This Time Last Year

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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by HarryCharltonsCat » Mon Nov 19, 2018 9:12 pm

tdk1 wrote:
theoriginalfatcat wrote:
tdk1 wrote: actually he encapsulated the whole Tommy Wright era pretty nicely.
Past tense??
Wishful thinking.

Seeing the players we've lost hurts a bit. I wouldn't care a bit if we lost about 6 of that starting xi from yesterday.
Well, Jameson was roundly condemned as not good enough, Marrs was reckoned to be not good enough, Burgess and Brown to not be good enough, Scott to be not good enough, Cartman to be too lightweight and not score enough, and Gillies to be lightweight and a luxury. Galbraith and Thommo are still here, so you must mean Turnbull and Beck. Strange how views can change so quickly.

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theoriginalfatcat
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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by theoriginalfatcat » Mon Nov 19, 2018 9:13 pm

Did we pay a fee for Ainge?
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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by loan_star » Mon Nov 19, 2018 9:27 pm

Darlogramps wrote: Only when I challenged loan_star did all of a sudden this ex-Darlo player become a fully qualified coach who's worked with them. Had he said that straight away, it would have carried more weight because it's relevant expertise.
Yes I clarified it for you more or less straight away but that wasn't good enough for you so you make stupid comments about O'Hanlon playing in goal etc. And hours later you are still wittering on about it. :roll:

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loan_star
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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by loan_star » Mon Nov 19, 2018 9:27 pm

theoriginalfatcat wrote:Did we pay a fee for Ainge?
I believe we did as he was under contract at Harrogate.

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don'tbuythesun
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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by don'tbuythesun » Mon Nov 19, 2018 11:06 pm

Thanks JE93, shows how many games I get to!!!

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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by Geordie Quaker » Tue Nov 20, 2018 8:12 am

Putting the unnecessary level of nit picking going on in this thread to one side, I want to throw my hat in the ring as very much pro-Styche, and in many ways it surprises me how quickly people forget his goals-to-game ration and how pivotal that was in reigniting last season for us.

As said above, you never got the out-and-out work rate you get from some other forwards but you rarely get both at any level. I remember Kevin Gall ran his arse off every game, which was his way of compensating for the fact that I looked more like scoring from row 18 of the Arena West Stand.

I always try and judge a forward by how much I would relish / dread playing against him as a defender. Styche was a monumental shithouse, niggled at defenders but then had the ability to create space and smash the fucker in. That goal at Spenny last season man! Ainge or anyone else in the squad cannot come to replicating that sort of contribution, and for me we are a notably poorer team without him.

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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by Darlogramps » Tue Nov 20, 2018 8:14 am

loan_star wrote:
Darlogramps wrote: Only when I challenged loan_star did all of a sudden this ex-Darlo player become a fully qualified coach who's worked with them. Had he said that straight away, it would have carried more weight because it's relevant expertise.
Yes I clarified it for you more or less straight away but that wasn't good enough for you so you make stupid comments about O'Hanlon playing in goal etc. And hours later you are still wittering on about it. :roll:
Nothing stupid about it all. What you're doing here is taking what I've said out of context to have a pop at me, which is a little naughty. I was making the point that you don't just blindly follow everything a perceived expert says, because they could be coming out with nonsense. You use your own critical thinking to assess what they're saying.

And by your logic, you're also wittering on about it hours later. Bit silly to complain about me talking about something, when you've been responding every single time.
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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by Darlogramps » Tue Nov 20, 2018 8:26 am

Geordie Quaker wrote: I always try and judge a forward by how much I would relish / dread playing against him as a defender. Styche was a monumental shithouse, niggled at defenders but then had the ability to create space and smash the fucker in. That goal at Spenny last season man! Ainge or anyone else in the squad cannot come to replicating that sort of contribution, and for me we are a notably poorer team without him.
This. Absolutely.

Put it this way, no one was complaining about Styche when he was scoring game-after-game. 16 goals in 31 games is a phenomenal record.

I've said before that he was a maverick. Someone who would do things differently, had the potential to spin the game on its head out of nothing. Yes he was selfish and at times wasteful, but I think you need that selfish mentality at times. It was why he was so good, particularly last season.

Ainge just doesn't bring that, and I fear people are going down the "we want a big strong lad up front" route. It's boring, unimaginative and easy to defend against.
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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by shawry » Tue Nov 20, 2018 8:30 am

Darlogramps wrote:
loan_star wrote:
Darlogramps wrote: Only when I challenged loan_star did all of a sudden this ex-Darlo player become a fully qualified coach who's worked with them. Had he said that straight away, it would have carried more weight because it's relevant expertise.
Yes I clarified it for you more or less straight away but that wasn't good enough for you so you make stupid comments about O'Hanlon playing in goal etc. And hours later you are still wittering on about it. :roll:
Nothing stupid about it all. What you're doing here is taking what I've said out of context to have a pop at me, which is a little naughty. I was making the point that you don't just blindly follow everything a perceived expert says, because they could be coming out with nonsense. You use your own critical thinking to assess what they're saying.

And by your logic, you're also wittering on about it hours later. Bit silly to complain about me talking about something, when you've been responding every single time.
Just feels like you're continuing this for the sake of it gramps, loan star should have led with the coach bit, but most of your argument came after he'd clarified.

I'd expect loan star is using the judgement of this coach to reinforce his own belief rather than blindly following it, and as such it's reasonable to assume that he'd give more weight to the insight offered by him rather than people like you or I?

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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by shawry » Tue Nov 20, 2018 8:37 am

Darlogramps wrote:
Geordie Quaker wrote: I always try and judge a forward by how much I would relish / dread playing against him as a defender. Styche was a monumental shithouse, niggled at defenders but then had the ability to create space and smash the fucker in. That goal at Spenny last season man! Ainge or anyone else in the squad cannot come to replicating that sort of contribution, and for me we are a notably poorer team without him.
This. Absolutely.

Put it this way, no one was complaining about Styche when he was scoring game-after-game. 16 goals in 31 games is a phenomenal record.

I've said before that he was a maverick. Someone who would do things differently, had the potential to spin the game on its head out of nothing. Yes he was selfish and at times wasteful, but I think you need that selfish mentality at times. It was why he was so good, particularly last season.

Ainge just doesn't bring that, and I fear people are going down the "we want a big strong lad up front" route. It's boring, unimaginative and easy to defend against.
That's reasonable, I wonder if we'd not had an offer if we would have touted him out. I didn't like him as captain though and have said this almost from day 1.

I would rather he stayed, but his form (like most of the team) had nose dived a bit, and in that situation I prefer a more team orientated player as I felt Styches arguing with officials was more detrimental and he should have been encouraging the team instead.



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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by Darlogramps » Tue Nov 20, 2018 8:47 am

shawry wrote:
Darlogramps wrote:
loan_star wrote:
Darlogramps wrote: Only when I challenged loan_star did all of a sudden this ex-Darlo player become a fully qualified coach who's worked with them. Had he said that straight away, it would have carried more weight because it's relevant expertise.
Yes I clarified it for you more or less straight away but that wasn't good enough for you so you make stupid comments about O'Hanlon playing in goal etc. And hours later you are still wittering on about it. :roll:
Nothing stupid about it all. What you're doing here is taking what I've said out of context to have a pop at me, which is a little naughty. I was making the point that you don't just blindly follow everything a perceived expert says, because they could be coming out with nonsense. You use your own critical thinking to assess what they're saying.

And by your logic, you're also wittering on about it hours later. Bit silly to complain about me talking about something, when you've been responding every single time.
Just feels like you're continuing this for the sake of it gramps, loan star should have led with the coach bit, but most of your argument came after he'd clarified.

I'd expect loan star is using the judgement of this coach to reinforce his own belief rather than blindly following it, and as such it's reasonable to assume that he'd give more weight to the insight offered by him rather than people like you or I?

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I'm the one continuing it??? Hang on, other people are responding to me - surely I'm allowed to respond to them, particularly when what I say is being taken out of context. Happy to leave it, but if people twist or question what I say, I'm allowed to respond.

shawry wrote:That's reasonable, I wonder if we'd not had an offer if we would have touted him out. I didn't like him as captain though and have said this almost from day 1.

I would rather he stayed, but his form (like most of the team) had nose dived a bit, and in that situation I prefer a more team orientated player as I felt Styches arguing with officials was more detrimental and he should have been encouraging the team instead.

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I don't disagree regarding Styche this season. It was immensely frustrating, particularly when you know he has that ability.

And I know he was sold for off-the-field reasons, but I'd rather have a player like Styche than a player like Ainge any day.
Last edited by Darlogramps on Tue Nov 20, 2018 8:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by Ghost_Of_1883 » Tue Nov 20, 2018 9:58 am

Unfortunately we don't have Styche now so we need to get behind Ainge as he's the main man now.

I still think he will come good. He is the type of striker who can get his fair share of goals but is also someone who a nippy striker can form a partnership with. Let's see how it develops (we have no choice anyway)

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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by shawry » Tue Nov 20, 2018 10:14 am

Ghost_Of_1883 wrote:Unfortunately we don't have Styche now so we need to get behind Ainge as he's the main man now.

I still think he will come good. He is the type of striker who can get his fair share of goals but is also someone who a nippy striker can form a partnership with. Let's see how it develops (we have no choice anyway)
I think most are, largely speaking it just seems to be pockets of unrest, and vocally most of its here luckily.

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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by Darlo_Pete » Tue Nov 20, 2018 10:16 am

Ghost_Of_1883 wrote:Unfortunately we don't have Styche now so we need to get behind Ainge as he's the main man now.

I still think he will come good. He is the type of striker who can get his fair share of goals but is also someone who a nippy striker can form a partnership with. Let's see how it develops (we have no choice anyway)
I'm with you, for now our options are very limited, iet's get behind what we've got and hopefully fans will be surprised at the outcome.

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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by H1987 » Tue Nov 20, 2018 11:35 am

Unpopular opinion: Reece Styche is the most talented player we have had at the club since 2012.

Most valuable or best servant? No. Thommo or Gary Brown would be the obvious candidates there. Sheer game changing ability though, it's Reece.

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theoriginalfatcat
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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by theoriginalfatcat » Tue Nov 20, 2018 12:02 pm

Josh Heaton ......
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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by loan_star » Tue Nov 20, 2018 12:43 pm

Geordie Quaker wrote:
I always try and judge a forward by how much I would relish / dread playing against him as a defender. Styche was a monumental shithouse, niggled at defenders but then had the ability to create space and smash the fucker in. That goal at Spenny last season man! Ainge or anyone else in the squad cannot come to replicating that sort of contribution, and for me we are a notably poorer team without him.
Theres no doubt that on his day Styche was unplayable. Mind you that didn t stop a few having a pop at him last season when it was going well. That penalty turned a few against him and it didnt matter what he did after that, the same faces were on his back.
The thing is the club needed the money so it made sense to accept the offer. Its noticeable too that comments were made by players in the game after he left, of it feeling more like a team now. Whether that was a dig at Styche or not, only the people who made those comments know that.

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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by jjljks » Tue Nov 20, 2018 1:12 pm

Only consolation for Darlo fans is that they are so inconsistent that you don't want to miss a game, knowing that missed game will be the one where it all clicks into place and we can beat the in-form side - coupon busters!* When we play teams on a poor run, we seem to be ineffectual and scrap for a point.

* for younger fans, there used to be a paper-based betting system called the pools where you had to predict results by filling in a coupon. Nice little bloke would come round to collect your coupon & tiny stake money which was then 'totalised' and then prize money shared out by those who correctly predicted scores or results. A coupon buster would be the totally unpredicted result, like Darlo winning in a cup game for example. ;)

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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by LoidLucan » Tue Nov 20, 2018 1:16 pm

If there was something behind those "team" comments, it would make the decision to give Styche the captaincy and persist with it completely and utterly baffling.

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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by TDS » Tue Nov 20, 2018 1:21 pm

I think you forgot a smidge of what's changed from this time last year = budget and losses.

The Club is no longer hurtling towards administration and is spending within it's means, or tweaking long before we get into trouble (Styche). As a fan owned Club, this is priority number 1 and something that Tommy has embraced (with his own reputation on the line).

In saying that, we need to ensure we keep this relatively good defensive run going and get a solid front line playing regularly going into Xmas, something which I'm confident will see us pick up enough points to maybe stop looking over our shoulder so much.

Also, fuck the bickering in this thread, a good post ruined, almost. Ainge is a team-player, that's all the lad was saying, Styche was out for himself, fair enough comments in reality.

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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by AndyPark » Tue Nov 20, 2018 1:23 pm

TDS wrote:Also, fuck the bickering in this thread, a good post ruined, almost.
That's darlogramps for you, most threads are ruined by his tedious arguments.

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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by Darlogramps » Tue Nov 20, 2018 1:31 pm

AndyPark wrote:
TDS wrote:Also, fuck the bickering in this thread, a good post ruined, almost.
That's darlogramps for you, most threads are ruined by his tedious arguments.
Takes two to argue Andy, and we've had four separate people replying to the point I made, so clearly it was of interest. Don't see why I can't reply to them.

As for threads being "ruined", you're the one trying to take it off topic to have a go at me. You're the one trying to do the ruining here.
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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by AndyPark » Tue Nov 20, 2018 1:47 pm

Darlogramps wrote:
AndyPark wrote:
TDS wrote:Also, fuck the bickering in this thread, a good post ruined, almost.
That's darlogramps for you, most threads are ruined by his tedious arguments.
Takes two to argue Andy, and we've had four separate people replying to the point I made, so clearly it was of interest. Don't see why I can't reply to them.

As for threads being "ruined", you're the one trying to take it off topic to have a go at me. You're the one trying to do the ruining here.
It's already off topic :lol: You ruined another thread by diverting it into petty arguments.

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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by theoriginalfatcat » Tue Nov 20, 2018 1:54 pm

LoidLucan wrote:If there was something behind those "team" comments, it would make the decision to give Styche the captaincy and persist with it completely and utterly baffling.
It would, wouldn't it, and perhaps that was part of the issue... Although Styche would not have reacted well to the captaincy being taken off him, but what player would?

For anyone wishing to read up more on this conspiracy theory regarding Styche (Stychegate) check out the November darlofans radio podcast, where our 3 pundits mull it over and hint at things - but none of them dare stick their necks out.
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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by Darlogramps » Tue Nov 20, 2018 2:38 pm

AndyPark wrote:
Darlogramps wrote:
AndyPark wrote:
TDS wrote:Also, fuck the bickering in this thread, a good post ruined, almost.
That's darlogramps for you, most threads are ruined by his tedious arguments.
Takes two to argue Andy, and we've had four separate people replying to the point I made, so clearly it was of interest. Don't see why I can't reply to them.

As for threads being "ruined", you're the one trying to take it off topic to have a go at me. You're the one trying to do the ruining here.
It's already off topic Image You ruined another thread by diverting it into petty arguments.
I haven't ruined any thread. Four people responded to the point I made and I replied back. No abuse, no insults, not until you came along. If people don't like the posts, they can skip over them.

The only one trying to ruining this thread is you, with your digs at me. Don't complain when you're the one taking it off topic.
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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by Geordie Quaker » Tue Nov 20, 2018 2:40 pm

The more I think about it, the decision to make Styche captain was absolute madness. Quite high in the roll call of TW fook-ups, infact.

I don't know enough about high level football to say whether a forward should / can be an effective captain, but I do know that if you have someone who puts the ball in the net once every two games, let him focus on that and fook all else.

Of course Styche was selfish, he is a centre-forward! If anything making him captain required him to compromise his playing style, and may well explain part of his form this season.

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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by H1987 » Tue Nov 20, 2018 8:10 pm

theoriginalfatcat wrote:Josh Heaton ......
I reckon you could make a solid case for Aynsley Pears, but I don't think either of them were game changing in the way Reece was capable of changing a game.

Not saying anything bad about either Heaton or Pears of course, i'd just choose Reece.

Oh, as an aside though, he should *never* have been captain.

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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by theoriginalfatcat » Tue Nov 20, 2018 8:57 pm

All this talk of Styche being a maverick started me thinking about Stan Bowles and how years ago when I was at school we used to travel up to London to watch him play for QPR. He was the biggest maverick you'll ever see playing football, utterly brilliant and so skilful - sadly now he is ill, and can remember nothing of his amazing football career.
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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by HarryCharltonsCat » Tue Nov 20, 2018 11:44 pm

Don't get the obsession over who is captain. You could give it to the ball boy for all the difference it makes once a game kicks off. Was it Thommo on Saturday? Lot of people have clamoured for him to get but can't see he did very much more than Styche with it. As for why Styche got it, probably because he had a bit of personality about him. None of the rest would say boo to a goose. We must be the quietest team in the league.

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Re: This Time Last Year

Post by jjljks » Wed Nov 21, 2018 7:13 pm

HarryCharltonsCat wrote:Don't get the obsession over who is captain. You could give it to the ball boy for all the difference it makes once a game kicks off. Was it Thommo on Saturday? Lot of people have clamoured for him to get but can't see he did very much more than Styche with it. As for why Styche got it, probably because he had a bit of personality about him. None of the rest would say boo to a goose. We must be the quietest team in the league.
Styche is not exactly leading the line very well for Alfreton or Gib, but we do need to shore up the forward line with another option. Let us wait & see what Tommy can come with :silent:

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