Red-Robbo

They can be Juan Kerrs as well. Didn't let my niece take a break during 12 hours on shift during the Killers' gig.

Feel for the staff as well. My niece works in the bars and is given 24 hours' notice that she's required to work. Makes it impossible to plan her weekends. If you say you aren't available, they stop using you. Zero hours contracts are the bane of the UK.

Possibly. I may have misremembered this but were stewards at one time being provided by an agency, but are now mainly on contract to Bristol Sport?

The catering operation is franchised and staff are, as Rob notes, provided by an agency.

I suppose the thing is the defence injury crisis is an ongoing thing as both Atko and McCrorie, who Pearson had wanted available, have been out since the start. I wasn't terribly impressed with TGH yesterday. His snatching at that shot on goal, when he had time to get it under control, summed up a meh afternoon for him. He'll have better games for us I'm sure.

Didn't really work though, I thought Pringy was excellent yesterday. One of the sad things was that despite the result, we had a number of players put in a really good shift.

We aren't really comparing like for like, the two given were shirt pulls, the contact on Sykes was a shoulder barge, but I'm sure the defender - and every Stoke fan in existence - would argue they were both going for the ball, there was contact and Syksey lost his footing. I thought it was a pen, as he jumps into the challenge with no real hope of getting the ball, but we've all seen those not given. If he'd tripped him, it would've been a pen awarded

It's never "just" the defence though is it? If we'd capitalised on our possession in the second half,we could’ve scored another 2 or 3. If the ball had been held up more effectively in midfield, they wouldn't have been able to make these dangerous breaks. Harry, elsewhere, eloquently details why Naismith will always give me the fear at CB. But who else is there? We have to try to ride out these injuries and hope we don't encounter another side whose only three decent shots at goal all go in? It could be argued that the game turned on their first goal. There's a shot at a distance that 9 out of 10 won't go in, but Lorin struck it superbly and against the run of play they suddenly had a lifeline. This transformed Stoke from a side looking already beaten, who could scarce hold the ball for two passes, into contenders. It lifted them. It's those sort of fine margins that change games.

It's supposed to apply in the National League, which is where they did when this chancer took them over.

Another victory for the "Fit & Proper Person" test....

Well, they do have a very wealthy donner, er sorry, I mean donor....

No worries. I lived there once. Liked the sunny microclimate and beach vibe - and I met some fantastic women there, which means it'll always hold fond memories for me...

Do Clifton, Hotwells, Stokes Croft or Bristol City Centre have that feel? Probably not either. There are lots of working-class areas of Bournemouth/Poole/Christchurch - and despite its rep, it actually has a lower-than-UK average age of population. Thing is, with the local club kept artificially small by the Hyacinth Bucket's on the council, lots of the population are glory hunters, particularly of the big London clubs. My friends who live there say since promotion it's been virtually impossible to get home tickets unless you're a regular ST holder.

Yet Bournemouth is a bigger metropolitan area than Newcastle and certainly far bigger than Luton or Burnley. Cherries' fans argue that the club would be bigger historically, were it not for the unremitting hostility of the local authority there to them moving to a bigger stadium. TBH you're right and clubs' fortunes ebb and flow and our perception is based on the order we knew when we got interested in football. When the PL was formed it contained Wimbledon and Oldham. Some clubs we think of as big, say, Chelsea, our grandfathers wouldn't have. I think the size of the club therefore is based on current fanbase - not who got 58,000 in an all-standing public safety nightmare in 1926 - combined with recent honours, say last 50 years. And "average" division played in during the club's lifetime. Our average is second tier, which does not make us a big club in my books or most others. However, to argue that Notts County are bigger than us today because they won the FA Cup twice in Victorian times is clearly ridiculous. The County fan I know would never make that claim.

Apart from when he kicks it straight into touch from a GK. Which still happens fairly frequently. I like MOL but I think his kicking is his weakest suit. Hasn't got either the power or the accuracy of some in this division. It's all good. It can be worked upon. In his position, he's still developing. Keepers should enjoy nice long careers. During open play he does recycle the ball quite promptly and accurately, which is great to see.

Good win for Bournemouth (Boscombe) that day!

I don't think many people in Fulham talk like that. They're more likely to speak like they've had their jaws wired shut and enjoy a delightful glass of Chateauneuf Du Pape at The Hero of Maida Vale.

I think you're overestimating the interest in Bristol Rovers and underestimating the following for Camelon Juniors v Civil Service Strollers. Oh, and they were dancing in the streets of Civil Service last night!

Well done mate. Beating at home a team that was last in the top flight 10 years ago, went into administration (and were nearly relegated to L2) three years ago, and who still have a transfer embargo. I'm not crying about narrowly losing away to a team who were in the PL last season, who are top of the Championship and still have loads of full-internationals playing for them. It's all relative, as it always will be to you bunch of sister-shaggers.

About midway through the first half. Maybe he felt sorry as it was the only way they could get possession at that point. Bloke did nothing with it. Naismith was quickly on the scene and took the ball off him. Max wasn't awful that game. But when so many of our players were showing their best, he was merely OK. He didn't shine, although I suppose for much of the game he didn't have much to do

Must be it, By 1 goal scored we're 7th not 6th.

We're same points and same GD as Hull. Are we not joint 6th? If we aren't someone explain why.

What I like is he's an attacking player who doesn't like players going past him - he has defensive qualities. Guy gets stuck into senior pros 10 to 15 years older than him. Shows no fear. He'll develop, I'm sure of it.

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He chucked the ball directly to one of their forwards in the first half. Fortunately, Whittaker, Hardie and Mumba hadn't come on, so there was no repercussions, but it was the worst of a number of not great moments from MOL. I don't expect everyone to perform flawlessly - no one did, or we could've won that one 8-0 - but Max and Wells are the only two players for us I'd rate as "OK" from last night. The rest were either "good" or "great".