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No such thing as luck.
There's no such thing as being unlucky in football to the tune of causing a relegation or a failed promotion, it's just something that football people, usually managers use to shirk responsibility and a sign that they don't know how to identify a team's failings. Contrary to popular belief there is no conspiracy against Doncaster Rovers.If we go down and I hear the people in charge of the football club bemoaning 'bad luck' as the main cause of our relegation (rather than identifying the actual reasons and endeavouring to improve) then I will be mightily pissed off. See John Ryan's recent Free Press quotes as an example of what I don't want to see.It cannot be too difficult to work out that, over a season if your team spends more time than the average with the ball in the attacking third then you are more likely to get favourable, game changing decisions. And therefore be less likely, because you spend less time in the defending third without the ball, to get unfavourable decisions. The opposite is also true.It's up to the manager to work out why we spend the majority of away games defending in our own box and put it right rather than blaming match officials and 'bad luck'.
Quote from: Akinfenwa on April 28, 2014, 11:39:27 pmThere's no such thing as being unlucky in football to the tune of causing a relegation or a failed promotion, it's just something that football people, usually managers use to shirk responsibility and a sign that they don't know how to identify a team's failings. Contrary to popular belief there is no conspiracy against Doncaster Rovers.If we go down and I hear the people in charge of the football club bemoaning 'bad luck' as the main cause of our relegation (rather than identifying the actual reasons and endeavouring to improve) then I will be mightily pissed off. See John Ryan's recent Free Press quotes as an example of what I don't want to see.It cannot be too difficult to work out that, over a season if your team spends more time than the average with the ball in the attacking third then you are more likely to get favourable, game changing decisions. And therefore be less likely, because you spend less time in the defending third without the ball, to get unfavourable decisions. The opposite is also true.It's up to the manager to work out why we spend the majority of away games defending in our own box and put it right rather than blaming match officials and 'bad luck'.Ooh, ooh! I know! I know!Is it because we have one of the smallest budgets and cheapest squads in the division?If we go down by one point or on GD, will you still reckon that bad luck had no role to play? Cos me, I reckon that knife-edge situations are often tipped one way or another by luck. Like, for example, if Khumalo had landed an inch to the side in that match in South Africa, I reckon we'd have stopped up. Or if the ref had seen that leg-breaker at Ipswich in the last minute. Or if the ref at Loftus Road had read that bit in the rule book about how neck-high tackles in the penalty area are frowned upon these days. Little things at crucial times.But I'm soft like that. I think those things can tip the balance.Mind, I'll admit that over time we must get other outrageous bits of luck going in our favour that tipped a crucial result our way and made the difference at the end of the season. I'm still scratching my head 15 years on trying to figure out how the ref at Rushden didn't send Colin Sutherland off for repeatedly fisting Colin West (mind, we lost that one anyway, so that doesn't count. And it was in the FA Cup First Round, so it was hardly crucial).There must be another one somewhere. Actually, I'm struggling here. I'm f***ed if I can think of one. Somebody help me out here.
Quote from: BillyStubbsTears on April 29, 2014, 12:00:35 amQuote from: Akinfenwa on April 28, 2014, 11:39:27 pmThere's no such thing as being unlucky in football to the tune of causing a relegation or a failed promotion, it's just something that football people, usually managers use to shirk responsibility and a sign that they don't know how to identify a team's failings. Contrary to popular belief there is no conspiracy against Doncaster Rovers.If we go down and I hear the people in charge of the football club bemoaning 'bad luck' as the main cause of our relegation (rather than identifying the actual reasons and endeavouring to improve) then I will be mightily pissed off. See John Ryan's recent Free Press quotes as an example of what I don't want to see.It cannot be too difficult to work out that, over a season if your team spends more time than the average with the ball in the attacking third then you are more likely to get favourable, game changing decisions. And therefore be less likely, because you spend less time in the defending third without the ball, to get unfavourable decisions. The opposite is also true.It's up to the manager to work out why we spend the majority of away games defending in our own box and put it right rather than blaming match officials and 'bad luck'.Ooh, ooh! I know! I know!Is it because we have one of the smallest budgets and cheapest squads in the division?If we go down by one point or on GD, will you still reckon that bad luck had no role to play? Cos me, I reckon that knife-edge situations are often tipped one way or another by luck. Like, for example, if Khumalo had landed an inch to the side in that match in South Africa, I reckon we'd have stopped up. Or if the ref had seen that leg-breaker at Ipswich in the last minute. Or if the ref at Loftus Road had read that bit in the rule book about how neck-high tackles in the penalty area are frowned upon these days. Little things at crucial times.But I'm soft like that. I think those things can tip the balance.Mind, I'll admit that over time we must get other outrageous bits of luck going in our favour that tipped a crucial result our way and made the difference at the end of the season. I'm still scratching my head 15 years on trying to figure out how the ref at Rushden didn't send Colin Sutherland off for repeatedly fisting Colin West (mind, we lost that one anyway, so that doesn't count. And it was in the FA Cup First Round, so it was hardly crucial).There must be another one somewhere. Actually, I'm struggling here. I'm f***ed if I can think of one. Somebody help me out here.Point of order!It was the second round, Rushden went on to play Leeds in the third round
Ooh, ooh! I know! I know!Is it because we have one of the smallest budgets and cheapest squads in the division?
If we go down by one point or on GD, will you still reckon that bad luck had no role to play? Cos me, I reckon that knife-edge situations are often tipped one way or another by luck. Like, for example, if Khumalo had landed an inch to the side in that match in South Africa, I reckon we'd have stopped up. Or if the ref had seen that leg-breaker at Ipswich in the last minute. Or if the ref at Loftus Road had read that bit in the rule book about how neck-high tackles in the penalty area are frowned upon these days. Little things at crucial times.But I'm soft like that. I think those things can tip the balance.