[New Signing]

Oh I've set a rouge thread off! To get my two penneth in. Kay was a very different animal to the likes of Fawcett, Kerr etc. He just used to glide and then accelerate through gaps you couldn't see. All of them were fantastic to watch. And agree Chris Taylor has that bit of something that classy centres have.

[New Signing]

19 hours ago, homeandawayer said:

What extra player would you like out of interest? Be sensible..go on you can do it this once!

I'd like a Phil McKenzie, Tony Kay & Des Drummond in their pomp please! Or if I have to be sensible IMO I'd like another hooker that can lead us round the park pulling the strings. I know others will say we have Marwood & Saunders but I don't think either are at Matty's level or better yet at game management.  A flying winger / fullback would be the other position we need strength in depth especially after Eccleston's devastating injury. 

Personally I have no problem with us going the Southern Hemisphere route as long as the lads coming in are better than what's on offer locally and they aren't  here for a holiday.  It takes a big commitment for lads travelling from Yorkshire 3 times a week and at a cost to the club in wages to attract them and travelling money, so bringing lads in that will live in the town and add to the community makes sense. Both us and Haven have great memories of some of our best players coming from the other side of the world. It's up to our local lads to roll up their sleeves and keep the jersey off them. If they are good enough they will. UTT.

[Rochdale]

I am shocked it has got to this stage tbh, he's supported the club over many years and deserves more than to be banned over something as stupid as a flags position. Surely there's some common ground to be had here with a member of the board and Andrew ffs.  

[Rochdale]

1 hour ago, glemiln said:

How is it up there this morning? BBC forecast is showing you mid 50’s mph currently and most of the day; tomorrow 57mph to wake you up and early 50’s most of the day.

Rochdale mid 40’s mph tomorrow until mid afternoon.

It will not be fun for walkers and drivers.  If  the game is played, you may soon run out of balls, so to speak!

I am too far away (slight wind and sun!), even from Rochdale.

Keep safe folks.

Just a laal bit breezy marra, still t-shirt, shorts & flip flops weather up here. I know you southerners are a laal bit soft like! 

Seriously though it is windy and will affect how the game is played but I've seen games played in strong winds before, it's that judgement call at what point it becomes a health risk.

[New Signing]

Awesome news, let's hope both visas are processed quickly. Welcome to Town to both the lads, won't be long before they are eating XL and saying "Eh" after every sentence. UTT 

[Keighley match]

2 hours ago, Hate the rec said:

Joe Purcell in from Swinton loan deal.

We have a full back at least and that will allow JS back into the halves. UTT

[Keighley match]

The crack at work was that training was cancelled on Tuesday as we couldn't even get enough for a football team. Serious stuff if it's true and we are struggling to field at team. 

[Oldham match]

1 hour ago, Town utd said:

Agree with a lot what as been said already, but for me it's not size it's the speed we play at ,slow running forwards, slow play the ball's with little support, town need to start getting on the front foot before they play sideways,also need to kick better on the last tackle. But hopefully we want be playing sides of championship level every week. 

 

I agree, we were tapping the ball after a kick to touch and we were lined up so deep that the receiver of the ball was struggling to make it to the play the ball mark, so one tackle down and zero metres made. Surely you need a big drive and quick play the ball to get a fast defensive line on the back foot. And when you are playing against a bigger team on your goal line why do we wait for them to come to us? We were always taught to get at least a couple of yards off the line as quickly as possible.  It's madness to me our line speed in our own ten metre as it seems so easy to score against us.

Anyway I hope we can play somebody else at full back as my heart can't take Sammut at FB any more

[Oldham match]

Yesterday was a tough watch. Oldham played straightforward rugby very well and their bigger better players made a big difference. They made good yards, kicked well and their line speed and tackling was good. A different referee might have pinged them a lot more as he was as bizarre as they come for how and when he decided to blow for pens. We were off side and not square in tackles, but he wasn't consistent when he decided to blow, and what he penalised us for he often let Oldham away with. Oldham targeted our weakest defender and we really struggled to stop them in our own 15m. Our line defense was again very poor.

For us despite the injuries and running out of players, players playing out of position etc I couldn't fault the effort from the lads. Bradley was well deserved MOM. Lets hope we can scrape a team together for next week as our injury situation is dire already. We will really miss Walker and Burns so fingers crossed they aren't as bad as feared. UTT.

[Stadium updates .......]

I see there has been a "major step forward" in the borough park revamp. £235k has been released so plans can be drawn and planning submitted. I hope that the drawings are almost already done, as by the time a spade goes in the ground the money release deadline might have expired.

I wonder if there will be a period where fans can both clubs can look at the plans and suggest improvements, or have they left it last minute on purpose so they can say "here it is like it or not as we have a deadline to meet"? I have to be honest in that when I came out of the Carnegie many moons ago I was enthused and sure that it was the future for both clubs. But I've completely lost faith in the project. Looking back at the website in February 2023 the update was "We can now report that our project has been allocated an initial fund of £50,000 from Allerdale Borough Council to complete work necessary to satisfy the final funding conditions. Within weeks this will enable us to begin to drawdown from the £6.4m and proceed with the real work of specifying the detail of the stadium. We will keep you posted at every stage!  So the "within weeks" is now over 52 and there's still nothing to see other than a conceptual drawing that be be nothing like reality. I understand that there will be work going on in the background as they must have spent the £80k somewhere, but why say within weeks?  

In the last 18 months Town have gone from strength to strength, especially off the pitch. Will this shared version of Borough park allow us to keep growing? I understand DP is old and has high maintenance costs, but we are the masters of our own destiny there, I'm starting to wonder if the Borough park bus shelter project will stop that. Hope I'm wrong. UTT

 

[Ike game 3rd March.]

The whole team were outstanding today. Henson going to hooker made a huge difference to our game, I know mad dog puts 100% in but Matty is wasted at 13.

I don't want to start naming folk as every player was superb. It was a joy to watch after we started playing sets out. Some defensive frailties to work on, but it was nice to watch at times.

If it wasn't for Aiye & JD the jam International select had nothing. Newton and Castle celebrating with the crowd when they went 16 up like it was over, and the Haven boys dancing with their tops off after 15 minutes.....then the wheels fell off in spectacular fashion

The Ike is back home! UTT

[Interim Chairman]

Well deserved and thanks for all the hard work you put in Graeme. Good to see the club progressing both on and off the pitch. UTT 

[Ike game 3rd March.]

58 minutes ago, Havenfan13 said:

I’m pretty sure the performance from haven this weekend will be much much different from the other week can’t play that bad again surely 

I think we can guarantee Jonty will have worked them this last fortnight and try to pick what they did right in that 3rd quarter. Play direct down the middle and on the edges,  get a quick PTB for a roll on and then spread it when we are stretched. 

Although Town did a lot right a fortnight ago Muzza I'm sure will pick up on our 3rd quarter defensively and get them not to force the passes that cost us 12 points in the first half.

We will have walker back but have lost Sammut and probably Saunders and Steel if the craic at work is right. The Jambos have lost Corkhill and gained JD. It will be interesting to see how their FB goes as his training allegedly isnt the best as he's not acclimatised to our version of tropical weather yet  

Let's hope its as good as last week with a different result! UTT

[Whitehaven 1895 cup]

10 hours ago, Unicorn 106 said:

You can’t blame them for celebrating an away win against us, we would have done the same. It was looking bleak for them at the end of last season so to win at DP must be a great feeling for them. I still don’t know how they went from non payment of players to signing overseas internationals, it’s a strange one, but they live to fight another day.

I don't blame them for celebrating at all pal, I was just surprised how much they celebrated given that it was a meaningless game. If they win they Ike in a fortnight then its completely understandable. Also a few supporters were over celebrating to try and goad a reaction. Maybe it was relief after their first half display that they got off the hook. No big deal though, it just made me smile.

Somebody must have put some money in, I can see the logic in bringing in overseas players that live in the area opposed to lads that travel from Yorks/Lancs at a premium. It's just a gamble whether you get caviar or cabbage as they all look like caviar on youtube reels. Then if you do get a good one there's always a bigger club willing to take them off your hands.

[Whitehaven 1895 cup]

12 minutes ago, Havenfan13 said:

Got Marcus obrien to come into the squad when he’s fit too pal

Thought your spine was poor today. Cus & Jammer will definitely improve you, and as they did today your pack will probably win you a few games. You just need to be lucky with injuries to stay out of a relegation battle again. 

[Whitehaven 1895 cup]

Just now, Havenfan13 said:

Nothing good about today from a haven perspective I’m just saying no poor sides int championship haven will come good takes time just remember u played out your skins today and we couldn’t play any worse but who won in the end I’m sure the next game will be totally different 

We played well, but we can definitely play better as we also made a few mistakes, and 2 led directly to tries. I don't doubt the odds are in your favour for the Ike, you are in the league above us.

Serious question, will Phillips & Newton be your hookers for the upcoming season or have you somebody else?

[Whitehaven 1895 cup]

1 minute ago, Havenfan13 said:

Put it this way mate no haven fan is celebrating that show, but then again it’s a sign of a good team to play so badly and still get the win 

There were plenty celebrating it and a couple of young lads trying to provoke us as we left, so I just congratulated them.

Good team? Are you serious?? Sorry but you won't play champ 1 teams all season.

[Whitehaven 1895 cup]

Great game to watch, it's a pity the result went against us as for long periods we were the better team.

Most importantly hopefully our injuries aren't too bad. 

Played some good stuff at times and held our own against their bigger pack. It's a shame two mistakes led directly to tries and that proved the difference in the end. But loads of positives to take and Muz will definitely be the happier coach of the two. The Haven International select have a lot of work to do to stay in the championship playing like that.

For us our whole team played really well. Sammut has definitely had better games in a Town shirt, but it's a dead rubber game so not the end of the world. 

I found it quite amusing how much Haven and their fans celebrated winning, I suppose they may not have many chances to do so in the championship next season as some of their players were very poor. But I suppose it sets up the Ike very nicely. UTT! 

[Whitehaven 1895 cup]

Although every Derby against our scruffy neighbours always carries some weight, as we are both out of the cup and play again in a fortnight for the Ike this game is watered down in terms of importance & bragging rights.

Most Importantly fingers crossed there are no injuries and no further bans, then let's hope a good crowd turns up for the club financially.  After that it will just be a hope that its a close exciting game and that we can improve our patterns of play, along with our line speed and especially our line defence. The line defence especially will be needed against the likes of King. As with Barrow they should beat us handily on paper, but maybe their overseas recruitment policy will mean the local lads will have a bit more fire in their belly. So let's hope we can sneak a win or two to give the lads a boost for Oldham. UTT. 

[Batley Challenge cup]

21 hours ago, distantdog said:

Hard to say as I think there was a significant number watching from inside (main lounge and hospitality boxes). If I had to speculate, probably around 750.

How do you keep a top end championship running on gates that low? I realise there's less interest playing a lower division club, but as its a split gate the club must be losing big time.

Is there a cash only gate that's not recorded on a turnstile like they have at our dodgy jameating neighbours Whitehaven to minimise the official attendance and maximise their income?

[BARROW 1945 CUP]

Good to be back. 

Strange start to the game, why when we had the wind at our back did we not start Sammut? He comes on after 20 mins and within 2 mins attempts our first 40-20. When you have a gale at your backs you have to play the conditions when they are in your favour surely.

We looked a bit hesitant in attack for much of the game and didn't really tear into them like I expected, then in the last 15 we found some belief and got two good tries. Some good performances in difficult conditions. Our goal line defence is still a bit slow at times, but easy to sort for the league starting. 

Mr Sweet was his usual bizarre self, and Stack complains more than our lass, but it was funny to see him come a cropper trying to smash Sammut.  UTT! 

[BARROW 1945 CUP]

Barrow should beat us comfortably, but if our lads put a shift in and we can contain there forward we can give them a game. 

If we come out of it with no injuries and our patterns of play are tight then it will be a useful run out. Let's face it we aren't winning the cup but these two home games will be good for the club. Let's hope the Barrow fans aren't as scared to travel up here as their team are. Can't wait to get back down in my spot on the terracing. UTT 

[WORKINGTON TOWN RLFC 2024]

So it's postponed. Gutted, as I've been looking forward to it for weeks. But I understand the reasons. Reds is on today, might be have to give it a shot.....

[WORKINGTON TOWN RLFC 2024]

It's just a bit of wind & rain, it would never have been called off back in the day but not so sure nowadays. 

At least if it's cold the jameaters might keep their hands in their own pockets!

[Reds Ladies]

3 hours ago, Chico said:

It has always been the other way round. They wanted to control their own destiny and just used the Reds name and badge. Reds gave them financial support along with backroom support when the ladies required it.

Going off your two posts you sound like you are from the reds side of the conversation Chico and a bit stung by what they have done, but there are always two sides to this craic and we haven't  really heard their side of it yet other than they are changing names and colours. The thing is although it has grown very rapidly very quickly,  ladies football in an area like ours has a relatively low ceiling so I'm not sure where their bigger offer will come from that you are warning of. At this moment in time both the ladies and Town are feeling the benefit of the partnership so all is good on the blue side of town, and it appears a bit salty on the other side of the road. Nevermind we will be all in the same biscuit tin stadium in a few years so it won't matter.