Thought they meant the wee team

[jambojim52]

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/and-finally/FA-probe-after-fans-win.5015040.jp

 

[Homme]

Clever betting IMO.

 

Should never let your heart rule your head whilst in the bookies!

[kevinref]

This was taken from one of the Weymouth sites

 

There are so many reasons why Saturday 21 February 2009 will stick around a long

time in my memory. A beautiful clear blue sky, a mild change of the weather

where spring could be smelt in the nostrils and the sun on your back made you

wonder just for a moment if that extra layer of clothes, worn most of the year

to counter that Dorset wind, were really going to be needed.

 

The football ground on the edge of town looked the same. A relic of its time,

unsympathetic and deteriorating but nonetheless an arena for triumphs and tears,

of championship parades and many, many ruined weekends. Inside, familiar faces

of the faithful, some not seen for some time, had all come to this place. They

had come wearing their colours, with flags, balloons, voices and an inflatable

dolphin. I bought a hot tea and it tasted like it always did.

 

But this was not a day for the ordinary. Slashed admission prices signified a

turn for the worse at this, our beloved Weymouth Football Club. Mid-table in the

Blue Square Premier, the best team of footballers most of us had seen pull on

the shirt had not been paid for almost two months and had already given notice

to find new employment. On Saturday, with their medical insurance expired due to

the dire financial situation at the club, they didn't take to the pitch. No-one

blamed them. They were committed and proud players. The day after they put in

their notice, they beat Torquay United 2-0 away from home.

 

And so it was that a few minutes shy of 3 o'clock on Saturday afternoon, that

most traditional of football times before television changed everything, a team

comprised almost completely of youth players stepped up to take their seniors'

places. There were surely nerves, but they battled not to show it. On the

terraces, the 900-odd faithful knew a heavy defeat was certain, that it was a

case of limiting the damage. Rushden & Diamonds, who by the luck of the draw

happened to be the visitors that day, looked like monsters. It was they who had

to deliver the slaughter. Some fans chosen to exploit the ignorance of the

bookies whose knowledge rarely ventured this far down football's pyramid. They

had placed substantial bets on their team to lose, pledging the winnings to

their club's fighting fund.

 

Within 10 minutes, Rushden had taken a two goal advantage and any faint hopes

that maybe we could see a miracle had long been eclipsed. With every passing

goal against, there were cries from the fans behind the goal: "Keep it going

lads!" "Come on you Terras!" "I'm Weymouth till I die." It was going to be a

slow and very painful death.

 

The score ceased to matter. Something more important was happening: from our

youngsters, the occasional passing move or brave run was applauded and tackles

were cheered. And if an occasional tackle wasn't as well timed as it was

intentioned, the assailed would pick himself up and give a slap of encouragement

to his assailant, while the referee didn't take his cards out of his pocket for

90 minutes. Each scramble and save was hailed with delirium. While Petr Cech had

four shots on target to contend with that afternoon in the Chelsea goal,

debutant Weymouth keeper Joe Prodomo had sixteen. But no-one was asking how the

big game at Villa Park was going. And no-one dissented when the announcement of

Prodomo's man of the match award came over the public address.

 

Rushden spared us a goal tally in double figures. The young combatants had only

conceded nine when the final whistle came. But where thoughts usually turned to

that night's tea or trying to avoid the car park queue, the fans refused to go

home. With applause ringing around the ground from opposition fans and players

as well as the home support, the young players - with chins up and chests out -

raised their hands aloft and applauded back. There were tears in eyes and pride

in hearts and we remembered what it felt to belong. This was beyond the

politics, beyond the squabbles over who owned what, beyond the egos and personal

agendas, beyond the previous chairmen and future owners, beyond who was to

blame. We were there in the moment, with a community football club that we

loved, with young local players who had given their all for the shirt, with fans

who understood that and who knew that sometimes football is about more than just

a result.

 

As we left that same unsympathetic and deteriorating stadium that afternoon, we

felt real fear that we may have been doing it for the last time. For us, there

is no golden ticket of Sky Money. It is an irrelevance to us. Victims of

financial mismanagement, the faithful young and old have pledged money and

practical deeds in an effort to save the club. We have come to understand that

there isn't always a white knight to come to the rescue. We have no

international stars to sell, no gravy train from which to profit. We are the

princess in the tower but the prince is nowhere to be seen. Maybe we don't look

as beautiful as we once did.

 

After the game, the messages of support came. From Oxford, Wrexham, Bournemouth,

Southampton, Exeter, Cambridge, Hereford, Southend, Halifax, Barrow, Notts

County, Barnet, Swindon, Bristol City, Kettering, Didcot, Yeovil. They all

understood. Many of them had been through dark days themselves and come through

in one way or another. York City fans put on a bus to make it easier for our

fans to make the big round trip the following week.

 

There is still a football family. It is alive in non-League and it is alive in

the lower Divisions. It is still the people's game. It still thrives despite

obscene amounts of money ending up in fewer and fewer hands, despite the

ignorance of overpaid pundits on live television who celebrate each passing goal

in a men-against-boys rout like despotic Roman Emperors at the Colosseum.

 

There does not need to be humiliation in losing at home by the odd goal in nine.

You can still find pure human qualities of dignity, respect and belonging, the

quality of people giving their all, to the absolute maximum of their ability,

with honesty and pride of the best kind. Football isn't about who can be the

most successful, it's still about the blood that runs through your veins.

 

If you can't hear us, we'll have another lager.

 

Up the Terras

[kevinref]

The bookies lost alot of money last weekend, more money was going on there game than alot of premiership games.

 

York city play them at home this saturday, odds are 1/12

 

They are fielding a under 18s team, could be worth laying york because york are ****.

[bn jambo]

This was taken from one of the Weymouth sites

 

There are so many reasons why Saturday 21 February 2009 will stick around a long

time in my memory. A beautiful clear blue sky, a mild change of the weather

where spring could be smelt in the nostrils and the sun on your back made you

wonder just for a moment if that extra layer of clothes, worn most of the year

to counter that Dorset wind, were really going to be needed.

 

The football ground on the edge of town looked the same. A relic of its time,

unsympathetic and deteriorating but nonetheless an arena for triumphs and tears,

of championship parades and many, many ruined weekends. Inside, familiar faces

of the faithful, some not seen for some time, had all come to this place. They

had come wearing their colours, with flags, balloons, voices and an inflatable

dolphin. I bought a hot tea and it tasted like it always did.

 

But this was not a day for the ordinary. Slashed admission prices signified a

turn for the worse at this, our beloved Weymouth Football Club. Mid-table in the

Blue Square Premier, the best team of footballers most of us had seen pull on

the shirt had not been paid for almost two months and had already given notice

to find new employment. On Saturday, with their medical insurance expired due to

the dire financial situation at the club, they didn't take to the pitch. No-one

blamed them. They were committed and proud players. The day after they put in

their notice, they beat Torquay United 2-0 away from home.

 

And so it was that a few minutes shy of 3 o'clock on Saturday afternoon, that

most traditional of football times before television changed everything, a team

comprised almost completely of youth players stepped up to take their seniors'

places. There were surely nerves, but they battled not to show it. On the

terraces, the 900-odd faithful knew a heavy defeat was certain, that it was a

case of limiting the damage. Rushden & Diamonds, who by the luck of the draw

happened to be the visitors that day, looked like monsters. It was they who had

to deliver the slaughter. Some fans chosen to exploit the ignorance of the

bookies whose knowledge rarely ventured this far down football's pyramid. They

had placed substantial bets on their team to lose, pledging the winnings to

their club's fighting fund.

 

Within 10 minutes, Rushden had taken a two goal advantage and any faint hopes

that maybe we could see a miracle had long been eclipsed. With every passing

goal against, there were cries from the fans behind the goal: "Keep it going

lads!" "Come on you Terras!" "I'm Weymouth till I die." It was going to be a

slow and very painful death.

 

The score ceased to matter. Something more important was happening: from our

youngsters, the occasional passing move or brave run was applauded and tackles

were cheered. And if an occasional tackle wasn't as well timed as it was

intentioned, the assailed would pick himself up and give a slap of encouragement

to his assailant, while the referee didn't take his cards out of his pocket for

90 minutes. Each scramble and save was hailed with delirium. While Petr Cech had

four shots on target to contend with that afternoon in the Chelsea goal,

debutant Weymouth keeper Joe Prodomo had sixteen. But no-one was asking how the

big game at Villa Park was going. And no-one dissented when the announcement of

Prodomo's man of the match award came over the public address.

 

Rushden spared us a goal tally in double figures. The young combatants had only

conceded nine when the final whistle came. But where thoughts usually turned to

that night's tea or trying to avoid the car park queue, the fans refused to go

home. With applause ringing around the ground from opposition fans and players

as well as the home support, the young players - with chins up and chests out -

raised their hands aloft and applauded back. There were tears in eyes and pride

in hearts and we remembered what it felt to belong. This was beyond the

politics, beyond the squabbles over who owned what, beyond the egos and personal

agendas, beyond the previous chairmen and future owners, beyond who was to

blame. We were there in the moment, with a community football club that we

loved, with young local players who had given their all for the shirt, with fans

who understood that and who knew that sometimes football is about more than just

a result.

 

As we left that same unsympathetic and deteriorating stadium that afternoon, we

felt real fear that we may have been doing it for the last time. For us, there

is no golden ticket of Sky Money. It is an irrelevance to us. Victims of

financial mismanagement, the faithful young and old have pledged money and

practical deeds in an effort to save the club. We have come to understand that

there isn't always a white knight to come to the rescue. We have no

international stars to sell, no gravy train from which to profit. We are the

princess in the tower but the prince is nowhere to be seen. Maybe we don't look

as beautiful as we once did.

 

After the game, the messages of support came. From Oxford, Wrexham, Bournemouth,

Southampton, Exeter, Cambridge, Hereford, Southend, Halifax, Barrow, Notts

County, Barnet, Swindon, Bristol City, Kettering, Didcot, Yeovil. They all

understood. Many of them had been through dark days themselves and come through

in one way or another. York City fans put on a bus to make it easier for our

fans to make the big round trip the following week.

 

There is still a football family. It is alive in non-League and it is alive in

the lower Divisions. It is still the people's game. It still thrives despite

obscene amounts of money ending up in fewer and fewer hands, despite the

ignorance of overpaid pundits on live television who celebrate each passing goal

in a men-against-boys rout like despotic Roman Emperors at the Colosseum.

 

There does not need to be humiliation in losing at home by the odd goal in nine.

You can still find pure human qualities of dignity, respect and belonging, the

quality of people giving their all, to the absolute maximum of their ability,

with honesty and pride of the best kind. Football isn't about who can be the

most successful, it's still about the blood that runs through your veins.

 

If you can't hear us, we'll have another lager.

 

Up the Terras

 

That's an amazing piece, very emotional and i applaud the weymouth fans for trying to save their club by betting against there own team and donating it to the club.

It just shows you that the original spirit of football as a game for everyone still exists.

[shaun.lawson]

In a funny kind of way, that 9-0 defeat could be the best possible thing that could have happened to Weymouth. It really woke a lot of people to what's been going on there: they've been inundated with messages of support from across the country, and have real momentum behind their campaign now. This latest development will only bring even more publicity! Good luck to them: Weymouth are a remarkable club who should, if only they'd ever been run properly, be near the top of the Conference with the real potential to establish themselves in the Football League. Their gates are incredible for what they are.

 

It's a beautiful part of the world too. I get the impression this could be non-league football's answer to what Brighton fans somehow achieved late last decade, again with the help of a sympathetic media and via an extremely sophisticated campaign. Not that SKY seem to care: as each goal went in last weekend, their pundits on Soccer Saturday thought it was funny. A youth team playing their hearts out against Conference opponents was something to be laughed at apparently: never has the gulf between real football and the dystopian fantasy land these jerks inhabit been more clearly illustrated.

 

I hope as many people as possible support the Terras fans in what they're doing. Fingers, toes and everything crossed they'll be OK.

[Le Chat]

In a funny kind of way, that 9-0 defeat could be the best possible thing that could have happened to Weymouth. It really woke a lot of people to what's been going on there: they've been inundated with messages of support from across the country, and have real momentum behind their campaign now. This latest development will only bring even more publicity! Good luck to them: Weymouth are a remarkable club who should, if only they'd ever been run properly, be near the top of the Conference with the real potential to establish themselves in the Football League. Their gates are incredible for what they are.

 

It's a beautiful part of the world too. I get the impression this could be non-league football's answer to what Brighton fans somehow achieved late last decade, again with the help of a sympathetic media and via an extremely sophisticated campaign. Not that SKY seem to care: as each goal went in last weekend, their pundits on Soccer Saturday thought it was funny. A youth team playing their hearts out against Conference opponents was something to be laughed at apparently: never has the gulf between real football and the dystopian fantasy land these jerks inhabit been more clearly illustrated.

 

I hope as many people as possible support the Terras fans in what they're doing. Fingers, toes and everything crossed they'll be OK.

 

Wasn't it Weymouth that Steve Claridge manager for a while Shaun ?

 

I seem to remember they had lofty ambitions when they got him in. What happened ?

[shaun.lawson]

Wasn't it Weymouth that Steve Claridge manager for a while Shaun ?

 

I seem to remember they had lofty ambitions when they got him in. What happened ?

 

They did: it's complicated. They were initially successful, and just missed promotion to the Conference; then boardroom wrangling started up behind the scenes. Iain Ridley, the journalist who'd taken over the club and brought his friend Claridge with him, was bought out, and Claridge sacked by the new owner. Some Terras fans weren't convinced by him anyway, held him partly responsible for spending near ruinous amounts on players, and one fateful night against Forest in the Cup, were ignorant enough to abuse him while he was commentating for Setanta.

 

The upshot of that is Claridge wants nothing more to do with them, and thinks the fans brought it on themselves. I can understand why he feels hurt - but you know what a minority of supporters can be like at times, and I wish he'd see the bigger picture. The fans were hardly responsible for Ridley being bought out: they had no control either way. Ridley has a much cooler view of things, and is rumoured to be in talks to buy the club back now. Depending on how you look at it, their problems date either from when he was replaced - or from his acting as a fan and spending way too much in the first place.

[Le Chat]

They did: it's complicated. They were initially successful, and just missed promotion to the Conference; then boardroom wrangling started up behind the scenes. Iain Ridley, the journalist who'd taken over the club and brought his friend Claridge with him, was bought out, and Claridge sacked by the new owner. Some Terras fans weren't convinced by him anyway, held him partly responsible for spending near ruinous amounts on players, and one fateful night against Forest in the Cup, were ignorant enough to abuse him while he was commentating for Setanta.

 

The upshot of that is Claridge wants nothing more to do with them, and thinks the fans brought it on themselves. I can understand why he feels hurt - but you know what a minority of supporters can be like at times, and I wish he'd see the bigger picture. The fans were hardly responsible for Ridley being bought out: they had no control either way. Ridley has a much cooler view of things, and is rumoured to be in talks to buy the club back now. Depending on how you look at it, their problems date either from when he was replaced - or from his acting as a fan and spending way too much in the first place.

 

Cheers Shaun

[shaun.lawson]

Cheers Shaun

 

You can always rely on me, LC.

[bn jambo]

You can always rely on me, LC.

 

Shaun your football knowledge is unbelievable, you should have your own section where everyone can ask you random questions, need to come up with a name for it though??????

 

googleshaun or wikilawson

[stew mc]

AnorakSean

[shaun.lawson]

AnorakSean

 

Too right! I have a reputation to maintain here.