[Archived] Todays Game Off

[Gav]

Pitch inspection and called off, a bit late in the day me thinks.

Match off

[Guest Kamy100]

Disgrace that it is called off so late, feel for all that have gone down to London.

[trs]

This should not happen at a premier lge ground

[Mr Creosote]

Gutted for the loyal hardcore who travelled to the capital and our Southern based colleagues who were looking forward to their day out. Sorry Ffan but Fulham are a joke.

[bennyboyt11]

Ah rubbish I was excited about watching this one...

[Guest Kamy100]

I had a feeling we would turn them over today and was looking forward to moving out of the relegation zone. It'll also mean that teams in and around us have a chance to move clear of us.

[Glenn]

Not Fulhams fault, they want it to go ahead. It was Rob styles that said 98% of the pitch was OK, but he's not risking it for the 2%.

[SAS]

pompey at home to city off as well

its pretty bad that clubs raking in £40m + a year cant afford undersoil heating

[Mr. E]

Rob Styles should compensate every single fan traveling today. Absolute muppet.

[bluebruce]

  Mr. E said:

Rob Styles should compensate every single fan traveling today. Absolute muppet.

And I'm sure if Benni had broken his leg on that 2 percent unplayable patch, you'd have been saying he should compensate us for losing our top striker.

You don't actually KNOW anything about the state of the pitch, so you can't call the man a muppet. He's doing his damned job. Blame Fulham for not having undersoil heating (or having CRAP undersoil heating if they have some). It's just not acceptable in this multibillion pound league.

[broadsword]

We don't know about teh state of the pitch for sure, but I would say that leaviing inspection until 1 and 3/4 hours before the game is plain stupid.

So, yes, muppet he is.

[Rovers in America]

  Bryan said:

We don't know about teh state of the pitch for sure, but I would say that leaviing inspection until 1 and 3/4 hours before the game is plain stupid.

So, yes, muppet he is.

If anyone is the muppets it's Fulham in this situation. They should have known the condition of their own field and been able to make an earlier call on it. I'm pretty sure refs don't get there until 1.5-2 hours before the game for their inspections and all that. It's not like the refs live at the stadiums.

[Al]

It's not Styles who should be handing out the compensation it's Fulham. It is disgraceful that a team in the Premiership do not have undersoil heating. Non league teams are not allowed into the second division if their grounds are not up to scratch and undersoil heating should be a minimum requirement for the Championship, never mind the Premiership.

Fulham should be made to pay at least £100 to every person in posession of a ticket to the away end of the ground to cover travelling costs and free coaches should be laid on for when the match is eventually played.

A points deduction would not be out of order either.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

  Bryan said:

We don't know about teh state of the pitch for sure, but I would say that leaviing inspection until 1 and 3/4 hours before the game is plain stupid.

So, yes, muppet he is.

1) Styles probably doesn't get there until 2 or so hours before the game.

2) It could have gotten worse as the day progressed. It might have been fine at 12 but worrying at 1.

3) It's Fulham's responsibility.

4) Sam said he agreed with the decision as it was "tightening up". Fits in with 2)

[AlanSheppard]

Pompey managed to have a pitch inspection this morning, why couldn't Fulham? They knew the conditions so surely would have made sense rather than only when the covers got taken off at 1! Would have saved those travelling from afar time and petrol money.

As someone who divides their time between the south-east and north-east it's pretty gutting. I'm unlikely to be around for the rearranged game and only get to see Rovers two or three times a year in the north-east. At least I didn't have far to go for this game, unlike many Rovers fans.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Perhaps they did have a pitch inspection this morning. Perhaps it was okay then. Perhaps it was worse when Styles saw it at 1:15.

The referee didn't want to risk it and Big Sam agreed. Gives us a great few days to get fitness levels up and do some core training with specialists.

[Balwer]

Well, there goes my first ever Premier League Game. Got to Paddington Station when I heard the announcement over a speaker. Then a few Arsenal fans called me a ###### as I was leaving. ######.

Luckily I live in North West London and not North West England I guess.

[Gav]

QUOTE (Ste B @ Jan 9 2009, 16:38 ) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

(Please don't use that word again)rocks

Can we have a ban please for such language.

[mattyboy6000]

  Glenn said:

, but he's not risking it for the 2%.

have they never heard of a hairdryer!!

bejeezus!!!

[philipl]

Managed to get the right cable channel to my hotel room after plenty of negotiation- nothing compared with the sheer frustration everyone who travelled down must be feeling.

Saw Sky pictures from the Cottage 10 minutes before kickoff and it looked like the Siberian tundra to be honest- they had hot air blowers on the pitch that were literally blowing shards of ice away. I amazed it was only 2% unplayable from the pictures they were showing. Sam seemed very content with the decision to be honest. Soy just said he was no expert on pitches!

I was completely taken by surprise by both postponements- I thought it was a requirement for Premier League clubs to have undersoil heating.

[American]

  GAV said:

Can we have a ban please for such language.

The one bright spot of the day was meeting Ste B.

I like Al's idea of the hundred quid!

[Blackpool_Rover]

  Mr. E said:

Rob Styles should compensate every single fan traveling today. Absolute muppet.

idiot

[broadsword]

  Anti-Dingle-Brigade said:

1) Styles probably doesn't get there until 2 or so hours before the game.

2) It could have gotten worse as the day progressed. It might have been fine at 12 but worrying at 1.

3) It's Fulham's responsibility.

4) Sam said he agreed with the decision as it was "tightening up". Fits in with 2)

I might be wrong here, but in days gone by, weren't pitch inspections done earlier than this?

Why doesn't he get there until 2 hours before the game, does he have to take his wife shopping or something? Couldn't the club have taken the covers off and had a look themselves? Obviously they can't call the game off, but as I say, pitch inspections used to be done a lot earlier than this, I'm sure. Perhaps they could have alerted the ref that there might be a problem and he could've gotten there earlier.

And yes, the longer the gap between the inspection and the game, the greater the chance of a game being called off which could have taken place. But surely it's not that hard to judge, and better to call it off far enough in advance than to risk hundred or thousands of people making abortive journeys.

Just my opinion.

[PAFELL]

  Glenn said:

Not Fulhams fault, they want it to go ahead. It was Rob styles that said 98% of the pitch was OK, but he's not risking it for the 2%.

To be honest Glenn, even the police outside the 8 bells pub at Putney Bridge, were saying that Fulham were out of order. They were the ones who came and told those standing outside the pub the game was off. They even said the part of the pitch that was unplayable was so small that sand over the area would have solved it.

Should add there was a good gathering of Rovers supporters. Sad for those who travelled from afar - there were two lads on the train from Greece who came over for the game, who return home tomorrow.

Oh well all the other results went in Rovers favour today.

[broadsword]

But Fulham didn't call it off, the referee did, didn't he?