Anyone else surprised that the referee allowed the kickoff yesterday to be delayed? The EFL quite rightly make sure that the final round of matches is strictly time coordinated. Surely you could make an argument that with the bottom three teams so close together, Macclesfield yesterday had a ten minute window at the end of the game to (if necessary) hold on to their point if the other two teams were losing, or throw the kitchen sink at us if the others were ahead. In my opinion the referee should have insisted on a three o'clock start. The delay was because of queues for tickets, mainly because of the closure of one area of the ground meaning relocation (and ticket sales) to another terrace. It's likely to happen again in their last game of the season, especially if they still need points.

Sky Sports we’re reporting live on Saturday that the hold up was due to fans marching from the Town Hall to the club to demonstrate against how the club was being run.

pembsexile wrote:Sky Sports we’re reporting live on Saturday that the hold up was due to fans marching from the Town Hall to the club to demonstrate against how the club was being run.

That wasn't the case. The march/protest reached the ground at exactly the same time as our coach. About 1:20. Seems their ticket office was not very efficient.

Edit.
The protest may have had a knock on effect of causing the queues but messages on the Macclesfield forum suggest it was mainly a problem with the ticket office. Either way, I think the referee should have insisted on a three o'clock start.
The march involved about 100 people and the crowd was a shade under 2300.

excessbee wrote:

pembsexile wrote:Sky Sports we’re reporting live on Saturday that the hold up was due to fans marching from the Town Hall to the club to demonstrate against how the club was being run.

That wasn't the case. The march/protest reached the ground at exactly the same time as our coach. About 1:20. Seems their ticket office was not very efficient.

Edit.
The protest may have had a knock on effect of causing the queues but messages on the Macclesfield forum suggest it was mainly a problem with the ticket office. Either way, I think the referee should have insisted on a three o'clock start.
The march involved about 100 people and the crowd was a shade under 2300.

He was probably acting on police advice. In any lawful protest, which it was, public safety is always given priority. If they took the view that a large number of people were about to enter the stadium whilst play was going on and if they took the view that there was a danger, albeit very slight, of a crush, then the ref would have had no choice.

Nanny state? I guess we never know how many lives have been saved by the nanny state.

Yes, that could well have been the case. It throws up the interesting question about something similar happening on the final day of the season. Would a delay on police advice have the knock on effect of all the other matches having a late start? ...... it could be chaotic. It's probably a good thing that Notts County have an away fixture.

I would say the FL would hold up all matches so ko was same every game

The delay helped the County as well as we knew that a point kept the play-offs in our hands.

Blackandamber wrote:The delay helped the County as well as we knew that a point kept the play-offs in our hands.

Only my opinion but all County, or anyone else, can do is concentrate on their own game. I can see on the final day that if both teams know that a draw will suffice as per Austria v Germany or Ireland v Netherlands it will give an advantage, but not on Saturday. Both Macclesfield and County wanted the win.

Stan A. Einstein wrote:

Blackandamber wrote:The delay helped the County as well as we knew that a point kept the play-offs in our hands.

Only my opinion but all County, or anyone else, can do is concentrate on their own game. I can see on the final day that if both teams know that a draw will suffice as per Austria v Germany or Ireland v Netherlands it will give an advantage, but not on Saturday. Both Macclesfield and County wanted the win.

Yes, I doubt the players even knew the other result while on the pitch.

excessbee wrote:Yes, that could well have been the case. It throws up the interesting question about something similar happening on the final day of the season. Would a delay on police advice have the knock on effect of all the other matches having a late start? ...... it could be chaotic. It's probably a good thing that Notts County have an away fixture.

It's happened before, I remember there was a serious injury in the first half of a game on the last day and ALL of the games involving teams which were in the mix (can't remember if promotion or relegation or both, nor which division - but I suspect the Championship) were delayed so the second halves kicked off at the same time.

Equally Coventry pulled a hell of a stunt one season by kicking off the second half REALLY late in the Premier League and I think their game (which may have been against Spurs) finished about 20 minutes after the others which meant they knew exactly what they needed to do to stay up. Must have been in the 90s.

EDIT: Probably May 1997, two first half subs in the match would have meant a lot of injury time, and Cov beat Spurs 2-1 at White Hart Lane. https://www.11v11.com/matches/tottenham ... 997-22931/

Oh, and of course Man U pulled a masterstroke with the fake bomb scare to get their match against Bournemouth delayed by 3 days in 2016, which REALLY annoyed Saints fans as it meant Man U knew a win would get them into the Europa League ahead of Southampton before they kicked off, which wasn't the case on the "final day". Got in through Arsenal winning the FA Cup anyway though.