Skip to content

I’ll tell you what grinds my gears

Two new fashions in football

Teams playing it out from the back who don’t have the ability to play it out from the back.
Don’t do it! It’s terrifying

Taking a corner with only the essence of the ball over the line.
Why? What advantage are you getting in that 1mm

Rant over. Night all.

«134567

Comments

  • Not during ‘no fan lock down’, but mine is players scoring and celebrating by running and pointing up to their wife in the players hospitality box. You scored for the club and the fans you .........

  • I'm very happy when teams not very good at it faff around with the ball at the back while we have a chance to reset.

    Is the corner thing new? I've certainly noticed what you have but wonder if it's been ever thus but that one doesn't really notice it when watching live.

  • @TheAndyGrahamFanClub and what about when the ball goes out of play right by the lino, and he has absolutely no idea which way to give it. Ref blows and points one direction or another and then said Linesman pipes up flagging with conviction and pointing the same way as if to indicate he knew all along. Sorry rant over!

  • For me it is the inability of a congested fixture schedule to be described in any other terms other than the games "coming thick and fast".

  • A poo free kick/corner that doesn't clear the 1st defender. It's a dead ball, a free & unimpeded kick at the ball for heavens sake. I can understand 1 in 10 for example where the planted foot slips a bit but when it's 5 in 10 it really gets my goat!!!!

  • Stealing 10-15 yards down the touchline for a throw seems perfectly acceptable.
    Yet everyone launders their breeks if anyone tries to steal half a yard on a free kick.
    Even one that the keeper is taking and will clearly punt miles down field.

  • Players not celebrating goals against former clubs never fails to annoy me

  • People sitting on the floor in the middle of the Vere.
    (Although I'd love for the the opportunity to be annoyed by this again)

  • When you're walking down the street and you move to one side to give the person coming in the opposite direction room, at the same time as they move to the same side to give you room, then you move back the other way to give them room, at the same time as they move back the other way to give you room, followed by a little jig, an awkward smile and some noises that aren't actually words.

  • “Launder one’s breeks” @Malone ? I didn’t have you down as Scottish but breeks for breeches suggests a northern or Scottish influence. Surely people are more likely to poo their pants, rather than launder them, if they get agitated?!

    Every player does it of course but stealing yards at throw-ins is still a little gear-grinding (as is the reverse of that in order to gain the opportunity to throw the ball to the goalkeeper or another player who may not be marked). Not so much an irritant, but the way nearly all goalkeepers seem to think that the ‘D’ on the front edge of the penalty area is part of that area is extraordinary. It surprises me that assistant referees never seem to wave for it.

  • @eric_plant said:
    Players not celebrating goals against former clubs never fails to annoy me

    Yeah, this one is annoying. I would understand it if they played there for 10 years or it is their boyhood club. But just because you spent 9 games on loan somewhere 6 years prior isn't reason to not celebrate.

  • Slight tangent, can anyone remember an ex player scoring against us and not celebrating recently? I genuinely can't remember any instances.

  • @OxfordBlue said:

    @eric_plant said:
    Players not celebrating goals against former clubs never fails to annoy me

    Yeah, this one is annoying. I would understand it if they played there for 10 years or it is their boyhood club. But just because you spent 9 games on loan somewhere 6 years prior isn't reason to not celebrate.

    Nope, not even if it's your boyhood club or you've been there ten years.

    If you love the club that much don't leave

  • Did Holloway celebrate for the Shrews? Last one I can remember conspicuously not celebrating is Anthony Grant (I think) for Southend - so not at all recent. Can't say it winds me up, though. Always seems quite a quaint thing to do.

  • Can I throw in people saying "by the letter of the law" for things that are not mentioned anywhere in the laws of the game?

    Eg "he's raised his hands and by the letter of the law it's got to be a red card"

  • @eric_plant said:

    @OxfordBlue said:

    @eric_plant said:
    Players not celebrating goals against former clubs never fails to annoy me

    Yeah, this one is annoying. I would understand it if they played there for 10 years or it is their boyhood club. But just because you spent 9 games on loan somewhere 6 years prior isn't reason to not celebrate.

    Nope, not even if it's your boyhood club or you've been there ten years.

    If you love the club that much don't leave

    Maybe they didn't leave out of choice?

  • Players holding on to the ball when a free kick is given the other way and then throwing it back in the opponents direction by launching it about 20 ft in the air.

  • Any pundit who says 'if anything, he's hit it too well' as a shot soars into row Z.

    But mostly, people who come to games with kids who have absolutely zero interest in the match and spend 2 hours annoying everyone around them by banging empty seats, demanding more food or fighting with siblings, and do nothing to stop them, or think it's all hilarious and cute.

  • @LX1 said:
    When you're walking down the street and you move to one side to give the person coming in the opposite direction room, at the same time as they move to the same side to give you room, then you move back the other way to give them room, at the same time as they move back the other way to give you room, followed by a little jig, an awkward smile and some noises that aren't actually words.

    @LX1 , sometimes words ...’shall we dance’ followed by lame laughs all round.

  • I usually say “once more and I must go” which usually works well as it’s never the same people twice.

  • Why do commentators and pundits seem to think that the very first thing an alien from another planet who has landed their spaceship in the UK would do is to watch a cup match featuring a top side taking on a plucky underdog?

  • @MindlessDrugHoover said:
    Any pundit who says 'if anything, he's hit it too well' as a shot soars into row Z.

    But mostly, people who come to games with kids who have absolutely zero interest in the match and spend 2 hours annoying everyone around them by banging empty seats, demanding more food or fighting with siblings, and do nothing to stop them, or think it's all hilarious and cute.

    And after 30 minutes of having your shoulders kicked being told 'But they're only little!' when you finally politely say something.

  • Though I would encourage people to bring kids...at least take them to the family stand so they can run about together. There is a family group in the Beechdean who eat, drink, fight, go and get more food, go and get more drink, eat, drink, fight and literally do not stop a second to watch the game! Then again without things to complain about what is middle age for...? On the pitch I must admit nothing irritates me that much...or stays with me once I've left...it's all part of the game. Except for that Hylton bloke... :smiley:

  • I think we're thinking of the same family group, @Wendoverman. As you say - maybe go in the family stand. The Beachdean is for low-level grumbling and gallows humour.

  • @micra said:
    “Launder one’s breeks” @Malone ? I didn’t have you down as Scottish but breeks for breeches suggests a northern or Scottish influence. Surely people are more likely to poo their pants, rather than launder them, if they get agitated?!

    Every player does it of course but stealing yards at throw-ins is still a little gear-grinding (as is the reverse of that in order to gain the opportunity to throw the ball to the goalkeeper or another player who may not be marked). Not so much an irritant, but the way nearly all goalkeepers seem to think that the ‘D’ on the front edge of the penalty area is part of that area is extraordinary. It surprises me that assistant referees never seem to wave for it.

    I remember someone who wrote one of the wycombe fanzines once saying something(i forget what) would be deemed so exciting to Alan Hutchinson(I'm Alan Hutchinson...and YOU'RE ringing the blues fame) that he would launder his breeks.

    Picked it up from there.
    True story.

  • @MindlessDrugHoover said:
    Any pundit who says 'if anything, he's hit it too well' as a shot soars into row Z.

    But mostly, people who come to games with kids who have absolutely zero interest in the match and spend 2 hours annoying everyone around them by banging empty seats, demanding more food or fighting with siblings, and do nothing to stop them, or think it's all hilarious and cute.

    I was more annoyed at one vital game a few years ago, when two adults sat in front of me and just stared at the bbc text of some other team's game all match.
    One of them briefly stopped doing so only to tell me off for "swearing" for blurting out a "frig"s sake" at some big moment on the pitch.

  • @our_frank That Shrewsbury game was pretty rare for having three different scorers against a former club in the same game, so I remember taking note of how they reacted when watching the highlights at the time. Holloway didn't specifically celebrate. Who knows whether he would, but he stood his ground and was instantly mobbed by his team mates. El-Abd didn't celebrate either, again being mobbed by his team mates. JJ on the other hand, after his 'goal of the season' contender, went off on one of his trademark aeroplane runs - definitely not holding anything back.

    Sidenote - all those goals were scored in front of their own fans. I wonder if the reactions would have been different if it was in front of opposition fans. Remembering Holloway's body language at Villa Park, I had him down for a gesture or two at us Valley Enders...

  • @Malone said:

    One of them briefly stopped doing so only to tell me off for "swearing" for blurting out a "frig"s sake" at some big moment on the pitch.

    That reminds me of another pet dislike (wouldn't say hate) - TV commentators repeatedly apologising for any bad language picked up during games. It's a football match for God's sake, not a CBeebies programme. Increasingly common with no crowds.

  • @LeedsBlue Holloway didn’t really celebrate any goal - v understated / disinterested demeanour.

Sign In or Register to comment.