I had to go and check whether Excel could cope with dates pre 1900. Not that I would ever doubt Bert but it was not something I had ever tried to do before. Lo and behold it couldn't cope. That must be a nightmare for a historian.

They still do pubs proper down that way.

Excellent pub too!

Paddington's neck of the woods [Link]

RIP Bob Newhart

REPD, pretty sure that similar was said about the preseason for Robbo. Let’s hope it doesn’t run out like that season. I’m not sure 3-5-2 is the way to go. Very fews teams are successful in the long term playing that. Jackson also tried that in his first season and it was a shambles for the first 10 games.

... and of course tomorrow I'm going to do that and see what happens 👍

But it's unlikely the LEB had to chase unpaid bills in the 19th century. It was a clever way of storing dates.

So strange seeing a white man playing Test cricket for the West Indies.

Bit of a puff piece by SW19s. O’Pikey et al conceded five at home.

Tom Swig - Days since 1900 are fine until you have to enter a date before 1900. Excel is a pain for that.

It would not be a surprise if we win a few games 4-3 for the first couple of months at least

Impossible to tell til end of January when we see the next squad.

League 2 is weaker this season than last without big spenders Wrexham and Stockport. Much of a muchness between about 15 clubs. Looking at the transfer activity so far no team really stands out. If the team clicks no reason why we can't challenge for the play-offs.

And a proper report on SW19 about today's game - [Link]

2-5, not 2-6 😬 We played some decent stuff, hit the bar, most likely should have had a penalty, so 4-5 might have been a better reflection - good, open game, great for both sets of players to stretch their legs without the worry of mistakes meaning points dropped. Pant wetting is probably premature, but you can’t ever stop people doomscrolling through Twitter/X even when it’s only a friendly against a strong Premier League squad…

Think we’ll struggle to reach the same heights in the league as we did last season. Maybe JJ can show some sort of improvement YoY in his own understanding of how to win games in L2, but at the moment the players he has to put out there appear to be of a lesser standard on paper compared with last season.

Bottom half this season?

Thanks CM. I just remember how poor the Colchester one was last year

Mark L. Unconvincing to say the least. Goodman marginally edged it due to better kicking. Don't really remember either saving anything to be honest

Ref was hopeless

What were goalies like?

5 all would have been about right! Kelly's penalty, Pigott brought down when clean through and Pigott's free kick that struck the cross bar.

72-1

Cricket score anyone?