Tranmere game off

1:08pm Friday 25th January 2013 in Local

SWINDON Town's visit to Tranmere Rovers tomorrow has been postponed due to a frozen pitch.

Groundstaff removed several inches of snow earlier this week and despite frost covers being on the pitch all week, the heavy frost last night combined with moisture still in the ground has caused it to freeze.

A match official visited Prenton Park this lunchtime and deemed the surface unplayable.

The decision was made today to prevent the Swindon squad and supporters from travelling to Wirral.

A new date for the game will be announced as soon as possible.

Comments(53)

Davidsyrett says...
1:12pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Running scared of us!

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We are PANTS says...
1:17pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Could be a blessing!!! Now only three away games on the bounce instead of four.. With all the stuff going on in the background we cant be sure the players would have been 100% focused. Would rather take 3 points from them than Leyton O to be honest.. Also, a few weeks down the line we could well be closer to them....

COYR'sssssssssss

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Northern Red says...
1:18pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Big game this...
Would Sky fancy the rearranged fixture on a Tuesday/Wednesday night?

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wurzelday says...
1:19pm Fri 25 Jan 13

So why didnt they leave the snow on the pitch. Every good groundsman knows that snow insulates and protects from frost. I think they took it off early so the club could get the game off. Haha

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Rebel_phish says...
1:19pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Bring on LOrient. They ran scared on Boxing Day. Tues match will show that they only delayed the inevitable.

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LeGod says...
1:21pm Fri 25 Jan 13

How come Tranmere havent made any mention of it potentially being a threat to be called off or are they doing what Orient and colchester did who had a few injuries and got the game pulled. I understand Tranmere have a couple of key players out and i smeel a bit of a scouser rat here or have they all booked themselves in for perms tomorrow pm and being measured up for shell suits.
Something is not right or there must be a massive frozen piece of ice just on the scousers pitch that no one else has got.
Ronnie Moore wants his strongest team for us and he wasnt going to have it tomorrow probably pulled a flanker with the local ref as we all know what scousers are like.

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TheDukeOfBanbury says...
1:24pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Was looking forward to going tomorrow.

Difficult travelling away mid-week but may still be able to get to this one.

If those fantastic fans cleared the snow last week why can't Tranmere get the game on tomorrow ?

Pitch Covers ?

Football League Paper - "Tranmere cheat Swindon by calling off the game early"

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LeGod says...
1:31pm Fri 25 Jan 13

the only game off in our league i think this needs to be looked at.

the orient game was the only game off as well when we were due to play them.

I think they are worried about us.

Never mind roll on to Tuesday unless Orient have got the wrong type of leaves on the pitch and it could be called off.
To me this match being called off is total B******T

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davel4848 says...
1:52pm Fri 25 Jan 13

What are people suggesting ? Tranmere would never do anything like this, would they ?
They have players injured, including their star striker McGurk.
All previous statements on their website saying how good the pitch is for saturday seem to have been removed.
Would Tranmere do something like that ?. Never !!!!

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London Red says...
1:53pm Fri 25 Jan 13

These consipacy theories are just that - or have Orient, Colchester and now Tranmere paid off the ref to say the pitch is unplayable!
.
The decision is clearly that of the ref not the club and unless you are saying 3 sperate refs are on the take - the conspiricy is total b******t

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scooby69 says...
1:57pm Fri 25 Jan 13

What a joke, thats means it will be another mid week game then.

Funny how last week we pulled our finger out and got our game on despite the weather.

Fancy taking the snow off, when it insulates and protects from frost.
Brain dead fools.

TOTAL JOKE !

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Stilloyal says...
1:59pm Fri 25 Jan 13

The way I read it is that they took the snow off and then left the covers off. If thats the case then it's total stupidity or downright cheating as they have key players out.
As has been said, they are all scared of us, this one could backfire as we may have Holland back for the rearranged fixture.
I said that the Trannies would suffer through having a small squad, but would this postponement be advantageous to them or be detrimental if they have a fixture pile up later ? It won't affect us as much as our squad is bigger and fitter.

In the words of the Big "O" , "Just running scared "

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John Young's Grumpy says...
2:03pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Looking at the met weather forecast for that area tonight and tomorrow - I have a sneeking suspicion it would have been called off anyway. Better now before our team and fans had made the journey or at least set off.

Conspiracy theories abound but cant help but feel we have teams running scared and more so if they are not at full strength...

If Tranmere had 200 passionate fans and a pizza buying manager the game would be on ;-)

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LeGod says...
2:10pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Yep locals refs decide on the pitch not the match official and most clubs have a decent rapport with the local refs and as somone has said all the reports this week on their site said the pitch was playable, The weather is warming up for the weekend and a bit of rain expected sorry i dont buy the nonsense about the pitch being frozen.

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MITTED says...
2:13pm Fri 25 Jan 13

or maybe they didn't like a dose of their own medicine before christmas in that we made them play away on a friday night............... ;o)
COYR

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LionelHutz says...
2:36pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Tinpot Rovers FC.

Absolute farce. I would happily have given the game a chance only to see it called off when I was on my way tomorrow.

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TEWKESBURYONTOUR says...
2:38pm Fri 25 Jan 13

pathetic....

Are they really this scared ?

Give us the points and we'll keep the goal difference the same .....

What next ? Sun too bright ? Sky too blue ?

Ponces !!

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SAPFanSTFC says...
2:40pm Fri 25 Jan 13

London Red wrote:
These consipacy theories are just that - or have Orient, Colchester and now Tranmere paid off the ref to say the pitch is unplayable!
.
The decision is clearly that of the ref not the club and unless you are saying 3 sperate refs are on the take - the conspiricy is total b******t
LR - There is no need to pay the ref off.

If you mis-manage the pitch care and ensure that things are worse than they need be then it is easy to get mother nature to work in your favour.
...
L.Orient had no-one working on the pitch for the 3 days prior to our game and was called off yet despite 2 days of rain they managed to play on a pristine surface against a lower league team a few days later.
....
Why take the snow off on Thursday for a Saturday game and how, with -6 covers, do you get a game called off when they managed to play recently following cold nights!?
----
No-one can be sure but it does help the consipiracy theories.

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mallorca says...
2:41pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Don't think for a minute theres anything dogy,Ref decided aint fit to play on.OK did benefit Rovers with there injuries etc but we will still beat them.
I also feel there will be a few games off tomorrow as well.

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SAPFanSTFC says...
2:42pm Fri 25 Jan 13

SAPFanSTFC wrote:
London Red wrote:
These consipacy theories are just that - or have Orient, Colchester and now Tranmere paid off the ref to say the pitch is unplayable!
.
The decision is clearly that of the ref not the club and unless you are saying 3 sperate refs are on the take - the conspiricy is total b******t
LR - There is no need to pay the ref off.

If you mis-manage the pitch care and ensure that things are worse than they need be then it is easy to get mother nature to work in your favour.
...
L.Orient had no-one working on the pitch for the 3 days prior to our game and was called off yet despite 2 days of rain they managed to play on a pristine surface against a lower league team a few days later.
....
Why take the snow off on Thursday for a Saturday game and how, with -6 covers, do you get a game called off when they managed to play recently following cold nights!?
----
No-one can be sure but it does help the consipiracy theories.
Only one other match called off in the bottom 2 divisions and this is a team desperate to gain revenge and REALLY keen to play us!!....Hmmmmmm!!?

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joner100 says...
2:56pm Fri 25 Jan 13

This is ridiculous. The temperature in the Wirral is due to rise to 5c by 3am tomorrow morning and stay around that temp all day so by first light the pitch will be well on its way to being soft and wet instead of hard and cold. Surely, pitch inspections should be not about how it feels the day before but what is likely to feel like at 3 o'clock the next day taking into account the weather forecast.

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mike1990 says...
3:22pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Well I'm glad they called it off early,forecast for more heavy snow tonight,then rain so the pitch would be waterlogged,Tranny fans are p1ssed off too,Orient game could be off Tueday too forecast for flooding Sun/Mon,Happy days take misses shoping lol.

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Stratton Red says...
3:32pm Fri 25 Jan 13

SAPFanSTFC wrote:
London Red wrote: These consipacy theories are just that - or have Orient, Colchester and now Tranmere paid off the ref to say the pitch is unplayable! . The decision is clearly that of the ref not the club and unless you are saying 3 sperate refs are on the take - the conspiricy is total b******t
LR - There is no need to pay the ref off. If you mis-manage the pitch care and ensure that things are worse than they need be then it is easy to get mother nature to work in your favour. ... L.Orient had no-one working on the pitch for the 3 days prior to our game and was called off yet despite 2 days of rain they managed to play on a pristine surface against a lower league team a few days later. .... Why take the snow off on Thursday for a Saturday game and how, with -6 covers, do you get a game called off when they managed to play recently following cold nights!? ---- No-one can be sure but it does help the consipiracy theories.
Can we stop banging on about the LO pitch. A good friend of mine is a LO STH and he was really looking forward to our game when it was called off. They played Walsall shortly after and he said that that game should not have gone ahead, the pitch was a total bog. LO have probably lost at lot of money with it now being a Tue night, the 10 of us that had tickets can't now make it and I'm sure plenty of others are in the same boat.
*
The Tranmere situation however seems a little bizarre with mild temps 7 degrees and rain forecasted...

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madterrier says...
3:58pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Tranmere Rovers fans have been shovelling snow onto the pitch since Monday.

We might be able to field a stronger team by the time the fixture is rearranged.

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smirg kcab says...
4:22pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Why don't the albeno ask to play it on anfield or goodison?
They could do with a big club to play there
Onwards and upwards

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mike1990 says...
4:57pm Fri 25 Jan 13

smirg kcab wrote:
Why don't the albeno ask to play it on anfield or goodison?
They could do with a big club to play there
Onwards and upwards
What are you saying smirg kcab?that there's only two big clubs on Merseyside,Tranmere Rovers and Tranmere Rovers reservers lol.

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Rebel_phish says...
5:12pm Fri 25 Jan 13

So, looking at the fixures list, if its not rearanged for Feb, we could be looking at an April evening. So we could have a run-in with 3 matches against promotion contenders., Doncaster, Sheff U and Tranmere, although one may have fallen off the pace by then.

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Wilesy says...
5:47pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Stilloyal wrote:
The way I read it is that they took the snow off and then left the covers off. If thats the case then it's total stupidity or downright cheating as they have key players out.
As has been said, they are all scared of us, this one could backfire as we may have Holland back for the rearranged fixture.
I said that the Trannies would suffer through having a small squad, but would this postponement be advantageous to them or be detrimental if they have a fixture pile up later ? It won't affect us as much as our squad is bigger and fitter.

In the words of the Big "O" , "Just running scared "
Doubt Hollands will be back, plenty of free Tuesdays in the next 6 weeks

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the wizard says...
5:49pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Weather for Tranmere between now and 3pm is plenty of rain, high winds but temperature above zero.

Seems very strange to me that a club that has been established for so many years hasn't got covers or ground staff than can cope especially as the bit further north they get more bad weather than us. No conspiracy just incompetence, just wondering if they had a cup game with Everton or Liverpool if it would still be off....... big gate, big money = big motivation to get the game on.

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DarrenSTFCRomain says...
5:51pm Fri 25 Jan 13

London Red wrote:
These consipacy theories are just that - or have Orient, Colchester and now Tranmere paid off the ref to say the pitch is unplayable! . The decision is clearly that of the ref not the club and unless you are saying 3 sperate refs are on the take - the conspiricy is total b******t
ABOUT TIME 2 LR...
YOU ARE SPOT ON FOR ONCE ha ha

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smirg kcab says...
6:02pm Fri 25 Jan 13

mike1990 wrote:
smirg kcab wrote:
Why don't the albeno ask to play it on anfield or goodison?
They could do with a big club to play there
Onwards and upwards
What are you saying smirg kcab?that there's only two big clubs on Merseyside,Tranmere Rovers and Tranmere Rovers reservers lol.
No I mean the big club is US
Onwards and upwards lol

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Oi Den! says...
6:10pm Fri 25 Jan 13

We live in England. It's January. Result: weather won, football lost.

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Bondy54 says...
6:13pm Fri 25 Jan 13

I'm not surprised that it is called off as the North have been hit quite badly the last few days. That will be another week day evening kick off but I'm sure it could be 1st v 2nd when it is re-arranged & it should be on Sky Sports.

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Steve. Brentford says...
6:50pm Fri 25 Jan 13

madterrier wrote:
Tranmere Rovers fans have been shovelling snow onto the pitch since Monday.

We might be able to field a stronger team by the time the fixture is rearranged.
Haha, Ive been told by a friend`s sister`s next door neighbour that Orient were in Oxfordshire yesterday collecting snow to take back to London,i must say fair play to them,they are obviously making sure the pitch gets plenty of insulation and is in good nick for Tuesday.

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trfc says...
7:06pm Fri 25 Jan 13

So dissapointed the game has been called off tomorrow, looking forward to 3 points to stay top of the league, looks like we will be handing over the top spot to Donny now.
Imagine the moaning on this board if we had let the inspection take place at 2pm tomorrow, all those travelling fans, I think we have done Swindon a favour since you are skint, maybe you will have new owners by the time the game is rearranged so you can afford better accomodation and maybe a few new players.
Don't believe the 'Tranmere have a thin squad' brigade, we are surrounded by Premiership and champioship clubs, and have an excellent reputation for bringing players on, expect a few class loanees for when we next play you.
Spoke to my relatives in Birkenhead, its snowing as of 7pm, even if its sunny tomorrow the pitch won't thaw out, shadowed by the main stand this time of year like most grounds.

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Medicated Soap says...
7:12pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Clubs are not willing to risk becoming liable for your team’s frivolously exorbitant travel and hotel bills, which would be the case if the game was postponed after you’ve set off. Money is tight in the current economic climate; you cannot blame other clubs desire to protect themselves by organizing early pitch inspections.

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Oldhamred says...
7:22pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Been working in Prestatyn today and have just made a drive by Prenton Park on my way home. It's 3 degrees outside with light rain and quite strong winds at the moment. Not much sign of frost except on farm fields along M53. I think they have pulled a fast one.

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the don69 says...
7:23pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Come on Chaps!Tranny have been sensible,call it off before anyone travels,the weather has Den said has won,I'm hearing the weather up North now is horrendous!!!!!!!!!!
!

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TheDukeOfBanbury says...
7:25pm Fri 25 Jan 13

trfc wrote:
So dissapointed the game has been called off tomorrow, looking forward to 3 points to stay top of the league, looks like we will be handing over the top spot to Donny now.
Imagine the moaning on this board if we had let the inspection take place at 2pm tomorrow, all those travelling fans, I think we have done Swindon a favour since you are skint, maybe you will have new owners by the time the game is rearranged so you can afford better accomodation and maybe a few new players.
Don't believe the 'Tranmere have a thin squad' brigade, we are surrounded by Premiership and champioship clubs, and have an excellent reputation for bringing players on, expect a few class loanees for when we next play you.
Spoke to my relatives in Birkenhead, its snowing as of 7pm, even if its sunny tomorrow the pitch won't thaw out, shadowed by the main stand this time of year like most grounds.
You are the only team in the division to have the game off and it's Friday.

Tin pot.

You should at least had the inspection tomorrow at 9.00am

And we are not skint so stick to the facts.
5-0 on your big day out.

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super reds says...
7:30pm Fri 25 Jan 13

With temperatures forecast to be above freezing tonight onwards the question us Town fans are asking is why uncover the pitch 2 days before the match, why not leave the snow til today to keep the pitch insulated then do what we did last week & get an army of volunteers to clear it. All you would have had to do was announce on local radio that someone had burried giros under they snow, pitch cleared in less than 5 minutes!!!!!

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TheDukeOfBanbury says...
7:51pm Fri 25 Jan 13

super reds wrote:
With temperatures forecast to be above freezing tonight onwards the question us Town fans are asking is why uncover the pitch 2 days before the match, why not leave the snow til today to keep the pitch insulated then do what we did last week & get an army of volunteers to clear it. All you would have had to do was announce on local radio that someone had burried giros under they snow, pitch cleared in less than 5 minutes!!!!!
and Ronnie Moore could have treated the fans to a Shell Suit.

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mancrobin says...
8:03pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Oldhamred wrote:
Been working in Prestatyn today and have just made a drive by Prenton Park on my way home. It's 3 degrees outside with light rain and quite strong winds at the moment. Not much sign of frost except on farm fields along M53. I think they have pulled a fast one.
M53? Sounds more like MI5 to me.

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RamsburyRed says...
8:45pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Worryingly, I find myself agreeing with LR twice in as many days! We are too paranoic here, it's the ref's decision and I can't see how a postponement is of any benefit to Tranmere from a footballing or financial viewpoint.
*
We might be on an even better run of form, and they might be in a slump for whenever it's re-scheduled.

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super reds says...
8:59pm Fri 25 Jan 13

RamsburyRed wrote:
Worryingly, I find myself agreeing with LR twice in as many days! We are too paranoic here, it's the ref's decision and I can't see how a postponement is of any benefit to Tranmere from a footballing or financial viewpoint. * We might be on an even better run of form, and they might be in a slump for whenever it's re-scheduled.
A question for you Ramsbury, why is it that Tranmere get in a 'local' official to look at their pitch yet we flew our matchday ref in from up north the day before to do pitch inspection, something doesn't add up, especially as the temperatures are above freezing now & have been most of the day & are not forecast to drop to minus at anytime in the next few days??? As some have said they have key players out & didn't want to play us in the form we're in at the mo, it may not make financial sense from 1 point of view but from another, who knows

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stfc2012 says...
9:21pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Weather causes game to be postponed - what a shocker!

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The Jockster says...
9:42pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Rebel_phish wrote:
Bring on LOrient. They ran scared on Boxing Day. Tues match will show that they only delayed the inevitable.
Phish don't count on that being on - an O's fan at work reckons that when the snow melts sand the week end rain kicks in it could be w/logged again! Still got my match ticket but not buying tran ticket until I know it's definitely on!

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RamsburyRed says...
10:37pm Fri 25 Jan 13

super reds wrote:
RamsburyRed wrote:
Worryingly, I find myself agreeing with LR twice in as many days! We are too paranoic here, it's the ref's decision and I can't see how a postponement is of any benefit to Tranmere from a footballing or financial viewpoint. * We might be on an even better run of form, and they might be in a slump for whenever it's re-scheduled.
A question for you Ramsbury, why is it that Tranmere get in a 'local' official to look at their pitch yet we flew our matchday ref in from up north the day before to do pitch inspection, something doesn't add up, especially as the temperatures are above freezing now & have been most of the day & are not forecast to drop to minus at anytime in the next few days??? As some have said they have key players out & didn't want to play us in the form we're in at the mo, it may not make financial sense from 1 point of view but from another, who knows
Seen the weather up norf tonight?

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mancrobin says...
11:07pm Fri 25 Jan 13

RamsburyRed wrote:
super reds wrote:
RamsburyRed wrote:
Worryingly, I find myself agreeing with LR twice in as many days! We are too paranoic here, it's the ref's decision and I can't see how a postponement is of any benefit to Tranmere from a footballing or financial viewpoint. * We might be on an even better run of form, and they might be in a slump for whenever it's re-scheduled.
A question for you Ramsbury, why is it that Tranmere get in a 'local' official to look at their pitch yet we flew our matchday ref in from up north the day before to do pitch inspection, something doesn't add up, especially as the temperatures are above freezing now & have been most of the day & are not forecast to drop to minus at anytime in the next few days??? As some have said they have key players out & didn't want to play us in the form we're in at the mo, it may not make financial sense from 1 point of view but from another, who knows
Seen the weather up norf tonight?
Yes. I'm looking out onto a winter wonderland.

I think it was a very good call by the officials. Early and decisive.

Let's move on.

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Oi Den! says...
11:08pm Fri 25 Jan 13

RamsburyRed wrote:
super reds wrote:
RamsburyRed wrote:
Worryingly, I find myself agreeing with LR twice in as many days! We are too paranoic here, it's the ref's decision and I can't see how a postponement is of any benefit to Tranmere from a footballing or financial viewpoint. * We might be on an even better run of form, and they might be in a slump for whenever it's re-scheduled.
A question for you Ramsbury, why is it that Tranmere get in a 'local' official to look at their pitch yet we flew our matchday ref in from up north the day before to do pitch inspection, something doesn't add up, especially as the temperatures are above freezing now & have been most of the day & are not forecast to drop to minus at anytime in the next few days??? As some have said they have key players out & didn't want to play us in the form we're in at the mo, it may not make financial sense from 1 point of view but from another, who knows
Seen the weather up norf tonight?
Too much for us southern softies. I reckon we persuaded the ref to call it off, to give us a chance of playing up there on a balmy spring evening.

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KojaktheWarg says...
11:15pm Fri 25 Jan 13

It did surprise me when this was called off. Especially when home games at Fleetwood, Crewe, Carlisle, Preston, Shrewsbury are all on. and its supposed to be 4 degrees all night in the area.

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the wizard says...
11:37pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Oi Den! wrote:
RamsburyRed wrote:
super reds wrote:
RamsburyRed wrote:
Worryingly, I find myself agreeing with LR twice in as many days! We are too paranoic here, it's the ref's decision and I can't see how a postponement is of any benefit to Tranmere from a footballing or financial viewpoint. * We might be on an even better run of form, and they might be in a slump for whenever it's re-scheduled.
A question for you Ramsbury, why is it that Tranmere get in a 'local' official to look at their pitch yet we flew our matchday ref in from up north the day before to do pitch inspection, something doesn't add up, especially as the temperatures are above freezing now & have been most of the day & are not forecast to drop to minus at anytime in the next few days??? As some have said they have key players out & didn't want to play us in the form we're in at the mo, it may not make financial sense from 1 point of view but from another, who knows
Seen the weather up norf tonight?
Too much for us southern softies. I reckon we persuaded the ref to call it off, to give us a chance of playing up there on a balmy spring evening.
And a better chance of them having a full strength team as well, to make our victory all the more sweet. see below for details,


KojaktheWarg says...
11:15pm Fri 25 Jan 13
It did surprise me when this was called off. Especially when home games at Fleetwood, Crewe, Carlisle, Preston, Shrewsbury are all on. and its supposed to be 4 degrees all night in the area.

Yes indeed, called off well in advance of the warmer forecast weather moving in.

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aturner289 says...
11:37pm Fri 25 Jan 13

This is a bit of a joke if you ask me, we try are hardest to get our games on down here in all weather conditions, they have a couple of first teams players out of tomorrows game, then wow we have a frozen pitch B****S**T,
Teams seem to be using the weather not to play us at the moment, well just they wait it will be there downfall not ours.

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Wilesy says...
12:32am Sat 26 Jan 13

I still can't believe what a shambles Tranmere were at the County Ground. I have to say they were the worst top of the League side I have ever seen, and it was possibly one of the worst ever team performances I can remember!

Looks like it was a one-off judging by their great results before and after, so I hope when we do play them there is no compacency.

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