RateTheRef

Blustery fine rain (that gets everywhere) and a pitch that was showing signs of being unplayable in Macclesfield on a Tuesday evening.
However Mr Stockbridge allowed for and the players to make the most of the conditions which was commendable.
Those who have read me previously, my official reports do not rely on a favourable result although 4 up at half time and a 5-0 win could have influenced that perception the other way, however:
Enjoyed both the result and the performance of Mr Stockbridge. 
Especially for our fifth goal which, similar to the Spurs disallowed one, was initially disallowed by the ARs flag, however the conversation between officials confirmed that our player on the line hadn't touched the ball on it's way in or been in a position to interfere/influence the defending team.  Goal given.
Well done Mr Stockbridge and his team, although I couldn't necessarily say the same to the Highways department roadworks on the A50/M1 junction delaying my arrival home until 0240hrs.  Don't they realise that there are some idiots trying to get home from football matches? 

Apparently clubs were complaining about loss of revenue from having more local matches played midweek where they don't lose as much from clubs travelling longer distances. Hasn't done me any favours as most of the Accy Stanley games I'd earmarked for this season have been moved to midweek meaning I can't get to them because of work.

Forgive me for being sceptical, but they need to make the opportunity to 'watch games on iFollow for Ł10 pay'...

One area where Hungary excels is free and legal streaming of games by the official sports channel. We only have 6 top flight matches per match day, 2 of them are always live on the the M4 sports TV channel, which is part of the standard TV package there and not an extra subscription channel. They are also streamed for free on the M4 sports website along with the other 4 games. There are 2 kick off times, normally 1 match + 5 matches to accommodate for the 2 live on the TV. If you really wanted to (and I have been known to more than once) you can watch all 5 games live at the same time, if you have enough screen space/devices to do so! All 6 games are then repeated on the TV channel at least once during the week and they remain viewable for a minimum of 3-4 months on the mediaklikk (the TV company) website. The 2 games that were live on TV are normally available within an hour of ending, to be watched in full on the mediaklikk website and the 4 that were 'only' streamed live on the sports channel website are up within 24-48 hours. It works very well there, this is the 3rd season of them doing it this way & viewing figures have increased significantly over the 3 seasons. The majority watching on the website are foreign based Hungarians. Perhaps more surprisingly is the knock on effect that it has had on attendances to live games, rather than decrease attendances, they have also increased and this season attendance levels are at an all time 10 year high. It seems to have rejuvenated the interest in the domestic league.  The top tier games are played on Saturday, 2nd tier on Sunday & cup games midweek. There is always at least 1 2nd tier game live on the TV website/TV channel every week and like the NB1 games it gets repeated and remains available to view. All National Team games are shown live on both as well.  They did try for a spell to put regional restrictions in place for the website streaming but found viewing figures fell and people who really did want to watch just used vpns to get around the regional restrictions, so they binned them & it has had a positive effect. Cup games can be a bit hit and miss. It doesn't appear to exist prior to round 6 when the NB1 teams become involved! They don't always show all of the games that involve NB1 teams either & they have some very strange kick off times! Round 7 there is one game on the 30th, the rest are on the 31st with KO times ranging between 12.30, 3.30, 5, 6 & 8pm! I guess part of why it works so well though is that we are not slaves to sky sports there.