The ultimate football talk shop (rodmarsh.com)

Member Name: pumblechook

Product:	rodmarsh.com
Date:	28/07/01 (150 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lively chat forum, Rod's "hands-on" approach, Good links to other sites

Disadvantages: The site is quite slow, Annoying members

For those of you who have been on Mars for the past 30 years, Rodney Marsh was one of the first glamour footballers back in his playing days in the 1960s and 70s. During an illustrious playing career, he played alongside the likes of George Best, Francis Lee and Stan Bowles before finishing his career in the United States.

These days, he is famed for his forthright and often outspoken opinions on Skysports' excellent football flagship show, Soccer Saturday. Among the highlights of his time on the show include his constant bickering with ex-Arsenal captain Frank McLintock and him getting his head shaved having incorrectly predicted Bradford would get relegated the previous season.

Rodmarsh.com is the Rodster's personal website and since its initial launch late last year, the site has undergone a number of positive changes. These include Rod's interviews, featuring a recent chat with Elton John, an opinion section from other Sky pundits, Jeff Stelling and the aforementioned Mr McLintock and a section of native American sayings. There are also good links to other football related websites.

The most popular aspect of the website though is the football forum where registered members can interact with each other and exchange their opinions on the beautiful game and much more. There are two main forums on the site, one called "So What's Your Point?", so named after Rod's catchphrase on the Skysports phone-in show, You're on Sky Sports.

The other forum enables site members to ask questions directly to Rod himself about his career or about football in general. Anyone who has seen Rod answering questions on TV will know he doesn't suffer fools gladly and he doesn't disappoint here either, although he does respond to most of the questions he is asked and sometimes contributes to the main opinions forum too.

As a result of the chat forums, Rod ran an awards ceremony at the end of the last fo
otball season with award categories including "Most valuable member" and "Most irritating member". Rod's blunt style may not be to everyone's liking but if you can take it on the chin, then you will fit in well on the site.

It should be said that as with any interactive forum, you do get one or two clowns on who can get a bit annoying and send one or two abusive posts, while the rivalry between some members can at times become farcical. Having said that though, most banter between members is extremely good-natured and the more established members have become accustomed to each other's style and humour.

Two suggestions I would make to improve the site still further. Firstly, I would like to see more lower league representation among the registered members of the site, most members in general support Premiership teams. Secondly, the site suffers at times from being quite slow when loading the chat page.

So go on, log in to Rodmarsh.com today and participate in an experience you won't forget.

Summary: