What’s that? No, Football Daily doesn’t feel like going to school today … *The Man jabs FD with pointy stick* Ow! Sorry, we were just resting our eyes – preparing an opus on *FD checks fixture list underneath our face* Hibs against Villa in Tin Pot?! Is it still Wednesday? *FD adjusts tie, takes refreshing sip of lukewarm Tin* Yes readers, Wednesday’s “big” game marks the latest chapter of great Anglo-Scottish rivalries in Europe stretching back to 1961 when Rangers defeated Wolves in something called the European Cup Winners’ Cup. Since then we’ve been treated to Celtic v Leeds in Big Cup, Leeds v Rangers and Celtic v Manchester United in New Big Cup, plus Celtic knocking Liverpool out of Big Vase in 2003.
If Graham Coughlan believes the best version of football consists of a little bit of play, accompanied by a whole lot of time-wasting (yesterday’s Time for Change section), I suggest he start paying for the notional entertainment of watching the atrocious stuff served up throughout the lower divisions, rather than watching it for free through his job. I suspect he would soon be as livid as many paying fans are about the levels of ‘game management’. (I don’t want to say cheating, but I can’t write ‘game management’ with a straight face)” — Michael Hann.
Given the amount of ball in play time in League Two in 22-23 was 48 minutes, he could perhaps really double down on his concerns and say that his team have already played nearly an extra match and a half so far in 23-24, compared to 22-23. Or, he could look at the statistics for 23-24 and note that, despite the Orwellian imposition of footballers being asked to actually play football for more than just over 50% of the advertised time, ball in play time in 23-24 in League Two is still just 56 minutes. So, assuming an average level of sh[snip! – Firewall Ed]housery by Newport County, his players have been required to play an extra 32 minutes so far this season” – Patrick Brennan.
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