TheNE40

Some good results in the Vase for the NL sides. Slightly surprised at Whickham heading out. Twice they've had leads in both their FA Cup and Vase ties and have ended up not being able to hold onto them...

Great signing IMO, hopefully he can push them up the table and they can kick on from here.

owner cutting back costs after last season. manager left as did most of the players. Clark came in and they have brought a load of young players and spme from lower leagues. always was going to be a relegation battle. Looking at Twitter it seems like Blyth are about to unveil a new signing. Wait and see who it is..

Looks like Goals (which Ashley has a stake in) really are struggling and are having to sell their assets. Latest on BBC News is below: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49510373

Thinking of going to see Gateshead v Brackley tomorrow. Gateshead only won 1 but have only lost one as well (drawing the other 5). Will be interesting to see what it's like after the drama towards the end of last season. Where's everyone else going?

Bury statement here pretty scathing of the EFL here.. https://www.buryfc.co.uk/news/2019/august/bury-fc-club-statement/

Walker very unlucky to miss out (assuming he's not injured). See Mings' inclusion has provoked some reaction as well as Lingard - what do people think (or are we not arsed)?

Rumours online that the EFL are holding an emergency meeting to discuss this out of time £7m offer for Bury... watch this space

Sky Sports now reporting that an international consortia has £7m in the bank to enable the sale of Bury FC and is pleading with the EFL to rescind their explusion… This may not be over..

Absolutely gut-wrenching this. Feel so sorry for the devoted fans who've given up years to support their local club. They're the main ones affected by this. Sincerely hope they can get a Phoenix club going and are able to sort this mess out. The EFL rightly have to take a huge amount of blame for this, as this proves that their 'fit and proper persons test' is just not fit for purpose. Ridiculous how a man who has nefarious intentions from the outset (and who was previously disqualified from owning a club) was allowed to buy the club for £1 purely for the aim of running it into the ground so that he can develop and profit from the land around Gigg Lane. Sky Sports also deserve a bit of criticism here. The complete lack of appreciation and understanding shown by that 'countdown' was nothing short of a disgrace. They should hang their heads in shame.

Another poor result for Whickham last night as well. Was at their game on Friday and a refereeing decision massively changed the course of that game (though they shouldn't have missed the penalty which would have taken it to a replay). From what I gather it was another missed penalty (by the same player), which may or may have not altered the course of the game but Consett were excellent going forward. Great result for Hebburn last night as well, along with some pretty good FA Cup results round the region over the weekend (Benfield, Stockton, Seaham, RCA) along with some replays still to come (Morpeth, Dunston, Hebburn).

Quite tempted by Whickham v Thornaby tonight. Only game in the area and should be a good game with a decent crowd at the Glebe.

Ryton won again last night .they might have to start the annual fight against promotion early this season. Heard it was an excellent result against a strong Synners side, but another tough one this weekend against Bedlington. Also looks like Whickham fielded a weakened side at Stockton as they're focusing on Friday night's game at Thornaby. Strong results for Hebburn and Guisborough in D1 (who are having a cracking start to the season). Was surprised Consett and Shildon lost. Benfield seem to have also gone under the radar despite numerous outgoings this season and had a very good result against Seaham last night. Very surprised to also see West Auckland struggling this early on but it's a long season of course. In D2 it looks like anyone can beat anyone at this stage. Durham and Easington are struggling but Ryton and West Allotment have had very strong starts. Looks to be anyone's for the taking this season. Great for us spectators!

Spennymoor v York is the standout game for me, two sides who will be up there at the end of the season.

Ryton & Crawcrook v Durham City - this season Whickham v Thornaby - this season Blyth v York - this season AC Milan v Lazio - last season Chelsea v Maribor - few years ago Augsburg v Dusseldorff - few years ago Ingolstadt v FSV Frankfurt - few years ago Hope to attend more European and local / domestic games this season.

Because the BBC (and their writers) are aware of the laws and their contents and wouldn't go out to misinform their readership. I'll agree to disagree on this one. Looks like both myself, the refereeing team (Michael Oliver and the VAR crew) and anyone else who think it was correct to deny the goal were all wrong !

'New handball rules introduced this season state that any goal resulting from handball, accidental or otherwise, must be ruled out and Man City found out to their cost just how strictly these laws will be applied.' Taken from the post-match report from BBC Sport (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49302583). As I said before, I don't agree with these rules, but they are what they are and will be enforced to the letter of the law.

The bold part applies here. By Laporte's handball and touch onto Jesus, it created a goalscoring opportunity from which Jesus scored.

If you read the 4th bullet point from the bottom on this link highlighting the changes to the Laws of the Game, you'll find it does. In that situation, it hit the attacking player's (Laporte's) arm. Whilst accidental it hit his arm and under this definition it was the correct decision to rule the goal out. For what it's worth, I'm not a fan of the new law change, but the decision based on the reading of the law in this instance was correct. I believe the overriding rationale behind provisions like this is that they don't want attackers to be seen to be scoring with their hand/arm (although they have taken this to an extreme here). Helpfully I've forgotten the link, here it is: http://static-3eb8.kxcdn.com/documents/786/111531_110319_IFAB_LoG_at_a_Glance.pdf

If you read the 4th bullet point from the bottom on this link highlighting the changes to the Laws of the Game, you'll find it does. In that situation, it hit the attacking player's (Laporte's) arm. Whilst accidental it hit his arm and under this definition it was the correct decision to rule the goal out. For what it's worth, I'm not a fan of the new law change, but the decision based on the reading of the law in this instance was correct. I believe the overriding rationale behind provisions like this is that they don't want attackers to be seen to be scoring with their hand/arm (although they have taken this to an extreme here).

The problem with VAR is that we asked for it. We wanted to reach the correct decisions. What it's taking away (as others correctly identify) is the drama behind it. Yes it was the correct decision in the Man City game, but we need to work out where we want the balance, either with VAR and getting decisions right (with reduced drama / enjoyment for viewers) or the reverse. Also throw into the mix that a referee also has discretion to refer / not refer certain incidents to VAR and the picture gets even more complicated.

Another good set of results for two local sides to me, Ryton & Crawcrook and Whickham at the weekend. Good to see them both in second in their respective leagues. Very surprised to see Hebburn lose at the weekend as well. Similarly excellent starts to the season for Morpeth, South Shields, Dunston and Marske. Fingers crossed it continues.

Good first win for Gateshead at the weekend, hopefully the start of a good season for them now. Hope they can kick on from here.

Fear there won't be much in the way of non-league football this weekend with all this rain...

Was also at this one - cracking goals by Ryton and Phil Hodges! Didn't realise he had that in his locker! Also heard there was a controversial penalty at North Shields which won the game for NE29 Paully[/member], that true? ??? :kasper: