I was at a ninth tier match whilst on holiday in Devon during the summer just gone and in the programme notes (imagine!) the manager apologised for last time out, where, in order to stop a slide in their form, he had not played the way they usually do. They had actually won said match, yet it still needed to be justified...

I am sure there was a very short, very muted 'We don't care about Venky's...' on Saturday. Overheard some old boys - who would have been around in the pre-Jack Walker era - on the way back who were in agreement about Venky's 'making mistakes at the start but put money in now and without them we'd be fucked' angle - so it isn't just from the kids who come from the post-2010 era who are impassive about it all. Join me in weeping.

Wonderful isn't it?

One takeaway from yesterday was that describing the Kassam Stadium as Oxford should be done under the Trades Descriptions Act.

I lived in said ugly dump (by and large a fair description) for eight years and West Brom were by a mile the most tolerable of the five 'big' clubs in the area. Thoroughly decent club and fans, always look forward to the annual Hawthorns trip. Hope Mowbray does well but not too well!

You mock, but all the kids in Windhoek and Bishkek who grew up dreaming of Robbie Earnshaw and Paddy Kenny will have had a night to remember. That's the real Magic of the Cup right there.

I meant the perpetual one horse race at the top overshadowing what everyone else is doing.

Ligue 1 with worse weather. Shame as positions 3-12 in the Scottish Prem are usually a constantly changing entity year by year, but well overshadowed by the 'Oxford won the boat race because Cambridge sank' above them.

Good. Media-induced mawkish horseshit. Posh were in that to the last breath and rightfully Ferguson treated it as a professional competitive fixture.

I remember when we didn't have to be in a Cup to get Chelsea away...

I unknowingly went into one where the no technology thing is strictly enforced - the Brown Bear in Sheffield. The entire experience was thoroughly drab, including the beer, though I was in company so at least I didn't have to stare blankly into the distance. Thankfully Sheffield is one of the best cities I have been to for pubs, so I have no reason to darken its door again if I am ever passing! Speaking of policies from another time, is Rishton WMC still no females?

I don't know about the PL but I would wager they all produce one. As for not issuing programmes, according to a topic on Non League Matters forum, in the EFL it is 4 in the Championship (us, Bristol City, Millwall and Swansea), 8 in L1 and 12 in L2. I recall at Bristol City last season there were unofficial sellers (for free?!) who had physically printed the pdf copies. Others loitering we selling their fanzine. Leeds, as much as it pains me to praise anything to do with them, had a very good programme on NYD, £4 mind. I wonder how many of the 24 above do monthly magazines in lieu, like Rovers attempted for the minimum amount of time they could...

Some of us are already on the train home, no time for nervous lie-ins! All I ask today is the entire team physically keel over if necessary in pursuit of Dingle Slaying, and Lee Williamson makes a cameo in some capacity.

A stat which I have seen of late is that only three individuals have ever won the league title with Man United, and one of those has been dead for nearly a century. Doesn't half scream peaks and troughs!

I've been to Finn Harps of all places. Only ground I have ever been to that played country music - and only country music - over the tannoy but thoroughly good fun. Wonderful part of the world too. I was also wedged into Richmond Park a couple of years ago for a sell out St Pat's v. Bohs. Goalless draw from memory but a proper game of football in a proper ground. The standards, settings, tactics, society etc. may change but for me it's all football at the end of the day. Oh, and since I've wittered on about the LoI - well done to Damien Duff on his triumph this year as manager of Shelbourne!

Yes, but only if us poor bastards who have parted with the travel and entry expenses, and had to grovel for the day off, in expectation of seeing a fair and whole hearted game of football get refunded accordingly! Oh, and who now appear to be travelling through a tempest to get there too...

Out of interest, what happened with Walters at Rovers? I never knew he was with us until I googled him (in my defence, before my time and he never made a league appearance!), and Wikipedia just offers the spiel put out officially at the time.

The most important thing about the prevailing situation at Old Trafford is that it is very, very funny. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch. Hope Ratcliffe is having a rotten Christmas.

Ange has the touch of Klopp about him in that when things are golden he's sound, but the second the cracks start to appear he turns into a right knob.

As a product aimed at groundhoppers, does it include facilities for noting the GSM of the paper in the programme, a list of corner flags touchable, whether the devil's lanterns were on and carpet laid, and come with a random plastic bag to carry it around in?

Hopefully all this talk of a ban on marrying your cousin distracts them and we win

A 21st Century Maiden album sounds tolerable if you play it at 2x speed, or edit it so as to remove the first two minutes off all the songs. Give me Priest or Saxon.

It is no coincidence that Spurs have been on a downward trajectory since Sir Brad turned into Lev Yashin in Cardiff IMO.

Hope so, the sooner we can guarantee Rovers' record stands undefeated for another three years the better!

Yep, it is very much something that once you clock you can't not notice. I work in the West Midlands so it's not as bad as all bar the most aloof Villa fans have been at our level of late. Always comes back to '95 mind, irrespective of what context I mention Rovers in. Don't know if I am happy or sad they have stopped asking about whether V****'s still own us mind. It is genuinely lovely to meet someone in the wild though whose interest in football goes beyond 20th place in the Premier League. I have worked with Port Vale, Tranmere, Barnet and Reading fans. Much more engaging chats than people who asked me if I watched Super Sunday, or indeed browsing through BBC Sport these days!