Happy New Year

I'm just getting in early to wish all the readers, that's Longy, Biopunk and Gobshyte and maybe someone else? a very Happy New Year :)
Hopefully we'll all get something to remember this coming year.

As far as football is concerned I'll settle for mid table obscurity and a cup for West Ham, and for England to safely make it through to Euro 2012.
I'm dreaming of Liverpool and Tottenham getting relegated but that is very unlikely to happen so I'll be happy just for Holloway's Blackpool to stay up.
I still like Man U more than the other title contenders so hopefully they will manage another title to put them in front of Liverpool, and I'd love to see an English team win the Champions league (even Tottenham!!).

Happy New Year all :)

Predictions (Week 19 - New Year Double Bill)

Another double up week to start 2011.
A few crackers in amongst the dross, West Ham have another save our season match against Wolves although with only 5 points separating the bottom 10 it's still too early to call, Man U might have a tough game against the totally unpredictable West Brom and Arsenal go to Birmingham who won't roll over.
Next weeks big game is Arsenal v Man City which could go any way?
Chelsea should beat a piss poor Villa side, and then go to Wolves and if they kidnap the ref's blind dog (as they did against Bolton) they might get something but I'm predicting a shock :)

01/01/11
West Brom v Man Utd 0-1
Liverpool v Bolton 1-1
Man City v Blackpool 4-1
Stoke v Everton 1-1
Sunderland v Blackburn 2-1
Tottenham v Fulham 3-1
West Ham v Wolves 2-1
Birmingham v Arsenal 1-2
02/01/11
Chelsea v Aston Villa 3-0
Wigan v Newcastle 1-2
04/01/11
Blackpool v Birmingham 2-1
Fulham v West Brom 1-1
Man Utd v Stoke 2-0
05/01/11
Arsenal v Man City 1-1
Aston Villa v Sunderland 0-0
Newcastle v West Ham 1-2
Wolves v Chelsea 1-0
Blackburn v Liverpool 2-0
Bolton v Wigan 3-1
Everton v Tottenham 2-1

Managers

2 More bite the dust today, Brian Laws at Burnley and Baby Ferguson at Preston which wasn't really a surprise.
As for the Premier League it's anyone's guess who'll be next for the sack? Hughton and Allardyce were not really expected but Avram Grant seems to be hanging on when most thought he would go.
Current betting odds - Avram Grant 1/2, Roy Hodgson 5/2, Carlo Ancelotti 8/1, Mick McCarthy 9/1, Roberto Mancini 10/1, Gerard Houllier 16/1, Roberto Martinez 16/1, Alan Pardew 16/1, David Moyes 20/1, Ian Holloway 25/1, Alex McLeish 25/1, Mark Hughes 28/1.

I would say Hodgson and Houllier have the most to fear, Roy Hodgson must be worried as new owners have come in since his appointment which usually means a change of manager and so far he really hasn't got them playing even as good as last year, also his signings haven't been performing Joe Cole looked like a masterstroke but injuries and suspensions mean he hasn't really looked the part, and signing Konchesky smacked of desperation.
Houllier has somehow made what looked like a really good Villa team look really bad? maybe O'Neill saw this coming and that's why he suddenly left.
Avram Grant's win and 2 draws from his 3 game trial might be enough to save him but his decision to leave Cole on the bench after his best game in a year must have worried a few people upstairs.
Of the rest Ancelotti must be a possible for the sack as it seems Abramovich is looking for a change? Chelsea desperately need some new players to replace the quality that left in the summer and it seemed the purse strings were tightened before the season began, if money is made available next week we'll have a clearer view if Ancelotti is the man to carry on.

Avi Cohen RIP

Sad news that former Liverpool and Rangers player Avi Cohen died today after a motorbike crash last week.
I just read that he only played 24 times for Liverpool but I remember him well for some reason, his son Tamir plays for Bolton.

Current Form

The current form table makes interesting reading if your a Chelsea fan :)

Top 6 - W D L GD PTS
1 Man United 4 2 0 +11 14
2 Tottenham 4 2 0 +5 14
3 Man City 4 1 1 +7 13
4 Arsenal 4 0 2 +4 12
5 Stoke 3 2 1 +6 11
6 Bolton 3 1 2 +5 10
Bottom 6
15 Everton 1 3 2 -3 6
16 Wolves 2 0 4 -4 6
17 Newcastle 1 2 3 -6 5
18 A Villa 1 1 4 -7 4
19 Fulham 0 3 3 -6 3
20 Chelsea 0 3 3 -6 3

Merry Christmas

Just like to wish any readers who come here a very merry Christmas :)

Benitez

I really don't like the guy but in a month of crazy manager sackings this one is up there with Hughton and Allardyce.
He's just won the World club championship which according to the title is the absolute highest you can possibly achieve in club football, and his reward ... the sack!!
OK Inter aren't looking like the team that Mourinho managed to Champions league victory last season, but as we all know Mourinho is a little bit special and he was going to be a hard act to follow ask Avram Grant and whoever took over at Porto.
Inter have made it to the next round of the champions league and although 13 points behind AC Milan have 2 games in hand which is roughly where they were before the special one arrived.
I'm sure Benitez would have improved given the chance so it seems a strange decision to dump him so early?
Benitez to West Ham? probably not but I'd put aside my dislike of him for a regular top 7 finish and a Champions league :)

Rumour

According to a mate who claims to know such things, it's a done deal that we'll be paying Emmanuel Adebayor 100k a week to come on loan from Man City to hopefully fire us clear of relegation?
I personally can't see it happening even though Adebeyor seems to have fallen out of favour with Mancini who has prefered Balotelli and even Jo in his place recently.
Roque Santa Claus seems a more likely pick?
Still undecided weather I like Adebayor as at times he has looked absolutely brilliant but seems a moody player and seems not to try if things aren't going his way.
Would I like to see him in a Hammers shirt? ..... Yes

Predictions (Week 18 - Xmas Double Bill)

As I'm not sure I'm gonna have time (or hopefully be sober enough) for this over the next week, here's a bumper Christmas predictions list.
Two games each for all the teams (weather permitting) over 4 days.
For the purposes of the Lee v Longy challenge this is all one week, so hopefully some high scores.

The big game of the first set sees Chelsea go to Arsenal, will Drogba be fit enough to knock Arsenal around as he usually does? I've gone for a narrow Arse win but with Lampard back Chelsea might start playing again.
Avram Grant probably has his best chance of that one win in Three at Fulham although if we suffer a heavy defeat I don't think he'll be there at the start of the new year.
Newcastle v City probably the pick of the other games, the geordies might be on song and give Mancini more headaches, although I'm tempted to put money on Barton getting sent off against his old team.
Next weeks games don't look too exciting although I've got a feeling Man U and Arsenal might struggle against their opponents.
We shall see :)

26/12/10
Fulham v West Ham 1-2
Blackburn v Stoke 2-1
Blackpool v Liverpool 2-1
Bolton v West Brom 2-1
Everton v Birmingham 1-0
Man Utd v Sunderland 2-0
Newcastle v Man City 2-1
Wolves v Wigan 2-1
Aston Villa v Tottenham 1-1
27/12/10
Arsenal v Chelsea 2-1
28/12/10
Man City v Aston Villa 3-1
Stoke v Fulham 1-1
Sunderland v Blackpool 2-2
Tottenham v Newcastle 3-2
West Brom v Blackburn 1-1
West Ham v Everton 0-0
Birmingham v Man Utd 1-1
29/12/10
Chelsea v Bolton 3-1
Wigan v Arsenal 2-1
Liverpool v Wolves 2-0

Holly Vs FIFA

Ian Holloway turns his venom on Platini, Blatter and the other corrupt bastards of FIFA .... brilliant stuff - The Link

It's Snow Good

Well it's 2.30pm and one premier league game is underway Sunderland v Bolton, of the other five it looks like Blackburn v West Ham is the only survivor.
I'm surprised that the Arsenal game is off, I thought they had a heated pitch and all manner of protection?
Here in Southend there hadn't been a flake of snow up until an hour ago, now there is about 3 inches!!
I see that the Southend game is off, but down to a frozen pitch which I can vouch for as I went out this morning and despite no snow my car was white with frost and I couldn't open the doors or boot as they were frozen solid.
It looks like the league show will also be short tonight as at the moment only 8 games are still on, 7 in the championship and the Exeter game from Div 3 or 1 or whatever.
Oooh just seen the Hammers team, Rob Green is injured for the first time in 3 years and back up Marek Stech is also missing so a debut for Belgian Rude Boffin (great name) with under 18 goalie Jake Larkins on the bench? this could be interesting.

Predictions (Week 17)

The last round of games before Christmas and featuring the big one (well it would have been if Chelsea hadn't suddenly decided to play like West Ham).
Man Utd haven't won at Stamford bridge since 2002 and will never have a better chance although I still believe that Chelsea will rediscover their form soon and what better game to do it.
West Ham go to managerless Blackburn with the axe hanging over Avram.
Nothing exciting in the other games except maybe Blackpool v Spurs which should produce a bundle of goals as Tottenham can't defend and Blackpool play in a similar style.

Sunderland v Bolton 1-1
Arsenal v Stoke 2-0
Birmingham v Newcastle 1-1
Blackburn v West Ham 0-0
Wigan v Aston Villa 1-1
Liverpool v Fulham 2-0
West Brom v Wolves 3-1
Blackpool v Tottenham 3-4
Chelsea v Man Utd 0-5
Man City v Everton 2-1

Allardyce

We must be in silly season, the second manager in a week sacked for doing a pretty good job.
Allardyce seems to be unlucky as this is the second time in the last few years that new owners have come into the club he was managing and decided they didn't like him, the other one was Ashley so no surprise I suppose, but this one came out of the blue.
Blackburn are doing reasonably well given the lack of money at Big Sam's disposal although he was promised funds in January (they didn't tell him he wouldn't be there in January obviously).

Meanwhile Avram Grant who most of us wouldn't have been surprised to see sacked has been given a stay of execution at least till we're out of the Carling Cup which means late January at the earliest by which time we could be in really deep shit in the league?
Although I did say to a workmate at the time of the Sunderland cup game that I'd take a cup win over staying up, and in a weird sort of way a cup win means a lot more as we haven't had much trophy success over the years but always bounce back every time we get relegated :)

Pardew

It's hard for me to criticise Pardew as I was gutted when he was sacked by West Ham and I really like the guy, but is he better than Chris Hughton?
Ashley said he wanted someone with more experience but Pardew's record is not a whole lot better than Hughton, one good season in the prem with West Ham followed by an average few months before his sacking, after that he took Charlton down although they were on their way before he got there, he did reasonably well in the lower divisions with Reading and Southampton but Hughton leading Newcastle to the Championship last season must put him at least level as far as achievements are concerned.
Signing a 5½ year deal seems like a good bit of business by Pardew as he'll be in for a good payout when Ashley sacks him after 5½ weeks :)

Predictions (Week 16)

After last weeks decent predictions this weeks games throw up some real hard ones to call, the big game is Monday with Arsenal going to Man Utd and on Sunday Chelsea go to White Hart Lane.
If Man Utd can click as they've threatened to do most of the season it could be a bad day for Arsenal, but apart from the Blackburn game they have struggled to put the ball in the net so who knows.
Chelsea who were robbed by the blind ref midweek usually win against the Spuds but even I have been impressed by the way Bale and co keep coming back in games so this one could go either way.
West Ham v City? should be a City win but there is always hope we can turn it on once in a while as the other Manc lot found out last week.
Here's this weeks predictions -

Aston Villa v West Brom 1-1
Everton v Wigan 2-0
Fulham v Sunderland 1-1
Stoke v Blackpool 2-2
West Ham v Man City 2-1
Newcastle v Liverpool 0-2
Bolton v Blackburn 2-1
Wolves v Birmingham 2-1
Tottenham v Chelsea 2-2
Man Utd v Arsenal 3-1

Great Football Quotes

Who said footballers are thick? you've gotta love them if these attributed comments are real :)

Ade Akinbiyi - I was watching the Blackburn game on TV on Sunday when it flashed on the screen that George (Ndah) had scored in the first minute at Birmingham. My first reaction was to ring him up. Then I remembered he was out there playing.

Alan Shearer - I’ve never wanted to leave. I’m here for the rest of my life, and hopefully after that as well.

Alan Shearer - One accusation you can’t throw at me is that I’ve always done my best.

Barry Venison - I always used to put my right boot on first, and then obviously my right sock.

David Beckham - Interviewer: Would it be fair to describe you as a volatile player? Beckham: Well, I can play in the centre, on the right and occasionally on the left side.

David Beckham - My parents have been there for me, ever since I was about 7.

David Beckham - I definitely want Brooklyn to be christened, but I don’t know into what religion yet.

David Beckham - Alex Ferguson is the best manager I’ve ever had at this level. Well, he’s the only manager I’ve actually had at this level. But he’s the best manager I’ve ever had.

Gary Lineker - There’s no in between you’re either good or bad. We were in between.

Graeme Le Saux - The opening ceremony was good, although I missed it.

Ian Rush - I couldn’t settle in Italy it was like living in a foreign country.

Ian Wright - Without being too harsh on David Beckham, he cost us the match.

Ian Wright - It took a lot of bottle for Tony (Adams) to own up.

Johnny Giles - I’d rather play in front of a full house than an empty crowd.

Jonathan Woodgate - Leeds is a great club and its been my home for years, even though I live in Middlesbrough.

Lee Hendrie - I took a whack on my left ankle, but something told me it was my right.

Les Ferdinand - I was surprised, but I always say nothing surprises me in football.

Mark Draper - I’d like to play for an Italian club, like Barcelona.

Mark Viduka - I would not be bothered if we lost every game as long as we won the league.

Mitchell Thomas - All that remains is for a few dots and commas to be crossed.

Neville Southall - If you don’t believe you can win, there is no point in getting out of bed at the end of the day.

Paul Gascoigne - I’ve had 14 bookings this season 8 of which were my fault, but 7 of which were disputable.

Paul Gascoigne - It was a big relief off my shoulder.

Peter Shilton - You’ve got to believe that you’re going to win, and I believe well win the World Cup until the final whistle blows and were knocked out.

Phil Neville - The Brazilians were South America, and the Ukrainians will be more European.

Richard Rufus - It was like the ref had a brand new yellow card and wanted to see if it worked.

Robbie Earle - If you’re 0 0 down, there’s no one better to get you back on terms than Ian Wright.

Ronaldo - We lost because we didn’t win.

Ronnie Whelan - He’s put on weight and I’ve lost it, and vice versa.

Stan Collymore - I faxed a transfer request to the club at the beginning of the week, but let me state that I don’t want to leave Leicester.

Steve Lomas - Germany are a very difficult team to play...they had 11 internationals out there today.

Stuart Pearce - I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel.

Thierry Henry - Sometimes in football you have to score goals.

Ugo Ehiogu - Im as happy as I can be but I have been happier.

Vinny Jones - Winning doesn’t really matter as long as you win.

No No No No

They have got to be fucking joking, how can this cunt who spends half the season suspended or in jail help us out?
Would be a good first move for Pardew shipping out the most unpopular player in English football, but not us please.

Chris Hughton

Proving finally that Mike Ashley knows as much about football as my missus, the sacking of Chris Hughton shows the guy is living in a dream world where Newcastle are one the biggest clubs in the world and should win every game, the fact he hasn't got Abramovich or Sheikh Mansour's billions seems to have passed him by.
Last seasons record of 30 wins, 12 draws and only 4 defeats was outstanding especially for a club that started the season in "crisis" and expectations were very low, Hughton deserved better after turning round the team that had been so bad the previous season.
But since taking over at the start of last season it has been obvious that Hughtons face didn't really fit with Ashley and he only got the job because he was already there and none of the so called world class managers would touch the job without considerable financial back up.
This season despite a few defeats they have probably punched above their weight to be mid table, a win and a draw against Chelsea is a pretty good return for a newly promoted team and recent wins at Arsenal and the 5-1 thrashing of local rivals Sunderland should have given Hughton a safe job for the next couple of seasons and if their new striker Ben Arfa hadn't got injured it could have been even better.

Newcastle have said that they are "looking for someone with more managerial experience"? anyone with the required managerial experience wouldn't touch this club with a barge pole after this would they?

Contenders -
Martin Jol has just left Ajax so is the current favourite but is his record any better? Tottenham fans might have an opinion on that, as far as I know he hasn't won a league title with any team even Ajax who finished behind Steve McClaren's Twente last season.
Martin O'Neill is in the frame but again his record isn't top class, titles at Celtic are good but that is Scottish football where as long as you beat Rangers you're probably going to win the league, Aston Villa really should have qualified for the Champions league under O'Neill but they never managed it and his record at Leicester is good for a small team in that they won a cup but the league form was patchy.
Alan Pardew again has a reasonable record of getting teams to punch above their weight with Reading, West Ham and Southampton but nothing much in the way of trophies.
I see Peter Beardsley has taken the 30 pieces of silver to take the job on a temporary basis, I would have thought a Newcastle legend like him might have told Ashley where to stick it.

The FIFA World Club Cup

The 7th FIFA World Club Cup competition kicks off this week.
As it's organised by FIFA I expect the winners have already been decided, and I confidently predict it will be Inter.
This competition replaced the old Intercontinental cup which used to be played between the winners of the European cup and the South American cup, since 2000 it was extended to include clubs from other football playing continents although so far the winners have only come from Europe or South America.
The first tournament in 2000 was mainly famous for Man Utd pulling out of the FA cup to play in it, Man Utd didn't do themselves justice and were knocked out leaving 2 Brazilian teams in the final with Corinthians the winners.
The competition didn't come back until 2005 in a shortened form which was handy for Liverpool as they had just won the European "champions?" league, they got to the final but lost to Sao Paulo of Brazil.
2006 saw another Brazilian win with Internacional beating Barcelona, 2007 was the first European win for AC Milan over Boca Juniors, 2008 was the first English win for Man Utd over Quito of Ecuador, and last year Barcelona beat Estudiantes of Argentina.
This years teams are the big 2 of Internacional (Inter) of Brazil and Internazionale (Inter Milan) of Italy (which is why I predicted an Inter win).
Making up the numbers are Pachuca (Mexico), Seongnam (South Korea), TP Mazembe (DR Congo), Hekari United (Papua New Guinea) and hosts Al-Wahda (UAE).

Predictions (Week 15)

Doesn't time fly 3am Saturday morning already, which means my weekly bad prediction post is a day late.
I could blame the depression over England's latest shafting but it's more to do with spending my non working hours .. working, trying to get my kitchen finished before Christmas :) started it about 2 years ago but lack of dosh meant it's been half finished since then .... anyway here's this weeks lot.
Lee
Arsenal v Fulham 2-1
Birmingham v Tottenham 1-1
Blackburn v Wolves 2-1
Blackpool v Man Utd 0-3 (Supposed to be postponed but just in case it isn't)
Chelsea v Everton 1-1
Man City v Bolton 2-1
Wigan v Stoke 0-0
Sunderland v West Ham 0-1
West Brom v Newcastle 2-2
Liverpool v Aston Villa 1-2

Longy's predictions
# Arsenal v Fulham 3 0
# Birmingham v Tottenham 1 1
# Blackburn v Wolves 2 0
# Chelsea v Everton 1 1
# Man City v Bolton 2 1
# Wigan v Stoke City 0 2
# West Brom v Newcastle 2 1
# Sunderland v West Ham 3 0
# Liverpool v Aston Villa 1 2

.. and this weeks celebrity predictor nicked from the Beeb website is David Cameron
Arsenal v Fulham 2-1
Birmingham v Tottenham 0-1
Blackburn v Wolves 0-1
Blackpool v Man Utd 1-0
Chelsea v Everton 2-1
Man City v Bolton 2-0
Wigan v Stoke 2-1
Sunderland v West Ham 1-0
West Brom v Newcastle 1-1
Liverpool v Aston Villa 0-6

I can probably handle losing to Longy but not this tosspot so I'm hoping for an improvement :)
I thought I was taking a chance with the Liverpool and Chelsea results but it seems I wasn't alone.

Sad Day

It reminded me of the Eurovision song contest, doesn't matter how good our bid was we were never going to win because they hate us, Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea had more chance of winning.
Blatter probably has a cupboard full of Rolexes so one more was hardly likely to sway him.

World Cup 2018

About 3 hours to go and my fingers are crossed.
We have the stadiums, the history, the easy travel links from all over the world and look on paper the outstanding candidate, but as we all know the decision probably won't take any of that into account.
I predict we won't get it but I'm hoping this prediction lives up to my recent record :)

The Things That Dreams Are Made Of

West Ham 4 Man Utd 0

A result that Hammer fan's probably dreamed of but considering that display at Anfield 10 days ago thought didn't have an earthly of happening.
I was listening to it on the radio at work waiting for someone to poke me from my dream but it was reality.
Looking at the Hammers starting eleven I feared the worst, Scott Parker and Piquionne only on the bench, Ben Haim, Kovac and Dead Snake all starting it didn't look good only 4 players you would consider first teamers if everyone was fit.
Man Utd as expected also shuffled their team but all eleven were well known with Giggs, Anderson, Fletcher and Hernandez all regulars and the rest have all played recently.
Avram Grant finally pulled off a master stroke bringing in ocassional right back American Jonathan Spector to play in Parker's position, obviously Man U didn't think he was worth marking as he ran right through the Man U midfield and defence on several ocassions and then capped it off with 2 goals.
Carlton Cole who has been a shadow of last years player then banged in 2 more in the second half, and Victor Obinna showed the form he threatened to show earlier in the season by setting up all four goals.

The Petrovic sacking last week does seem to have had the right effect so far so hopefully we can take this new found confidence on to the league starting at Sunderland on Sunday, we have already won there this season in the Carling Cup so now the expectations are higher.

Colin

In previous seasons I would be quite happy that QPR are doing well as they are one of those teams I've liked watching in the past going back to the Stan Bowles, Gerry Francis era when they were fun to watch.
Sadly at the end of last season they decided to employ Colin Wanker as their manager and like most football fans you just want to see that obnoxious git fail.
Hopefully he'll do or say something stupid before the end of the season and they'll sack him so that I can wish QPR well on their return to the big time?

Unpredictable

This has to be one of the worst seasons for amateur tipsters like me, luckily my own credit crunch means I'm not putting money on very often.
Teams like Everton, West Brom, Arsenal, Blackpool etc are really becoming unpredictable, abject losses one week followed by brilliant wins the next week.
Today's odd results included an amazing win for West Brom away who have looked awful recently against Everton who don't usually give too much away.
Arsenal looking like world beaters again after several dodgy results.
Mis-firing Man Utd banging in seven against Blackburn who have been much improved recently.
Form team Bolton scraping a draw against Blackpool who continue to surprise but again threw away a two goal lead.
West Ham at least got the result I'd hoped for :)

Predictions (Week 14)

Trying to go for more realistic results this week (apart from the Hammers game) in the hope of ending the run of really bad predictions.

Aston Villa v Arsenal 1-1
Bolton v Blackpool 3-1
Everton v West Brom 2-0
Fulham v Birmingham 1-1
Man Utd v Blackburn 2-1
Stoke v Man City 1-2
West Ham v Wigan 2-1
Wolves v Sunderland 1-1
Newcastle v Chelsea 1-3
Tottenham v Liverpool 2-0

West Ham v Wigan is another "must win" game for us and hopefully new coach Wally Downes will lighten the mood in the Hammers dressing room after they kicked out Zeljko Petrovic who I've heard the players couldn't stand.
Chelsea should overcome Newcastle who have lost both centre backs to suspension.
Robert Pires v Arsenal adds a bit of interest for that game.
Man Utd should stay unbeaten against Blackburn but will probably have to work hard to get the win.
Tottenham v Liverpool I really don't care, hopefully a mass brawl with both teams deducted points :)

Footy Related Music

We need some music on this blog.
I listened to this for the first time in ages today and came to the conclusion it's not half bad and even includes a little bit of vuvuzela (or might be air horn?).
A collaboration between French superstar Jarre and Apollo 440 on this theme tune for the 1998 World cup in France.

1 Rendez-Vous 98
2 Rendez-Vous 98 (440 Remix)
3 Oxygene 10 (440 Remix Dub)

Link - Removed

And Then Like My Dreams etc

Being an armchair fan these days meant today was the first time I've watched a full West Ham game this season.
I can now understand why everyone is tipping us for the drop we were rubbish :(
I know most of the first team were out injured but those making up the numbers weren't a bunch of untried kids they were all players who have been first teamers at some stage.
Rob Green comes out blameless as he had no chance with the goals and made several excellent saves to keep us from total humiliation, Fred Piquionne again showed the pace and talent to look our best forward although missing a good chance in the second half, as for the rest Mark Noble is probably not fit yet after his appendix op a couple of weeks ago.
We sold a really good Welsh defender last season for some reason and kept Danny Gabbidon who is about 4 years past his best, Ilunga and Jacobsen are average at best and we always look better when Matthew Upson is injured obviously I'm not a fan of his.
Luis Boa Morte has talent shame he only shows it for about 2 minutes every game, Kovac is no Scott Parker (nor any other good midfielder), Obinna looked good earlier in the season but was anonymous today, Carton Cole is looking like the player we signed a few years back .. distinctly average.
Pablo Berrera came on and looked lively but with little service.
Luckily Liverpool didn't play in the second half and saved us a hiding but we were awful, I've accused Liverpool of being a one man team and we should have had a chance with Gerrard missing but sadly we are also a one man team and Scotty Parker was badly missed today.

Predictions (Week 13)

After last weeks variety of weird scores ... who knows??
The only good thing after my worst predictions week of the season was that I still beat Longy 2-1 :)

West Ham go to Anfield and every season I pray for a win and it just never happens, I was in still in nappies and Bobby Moore was a kid the last time the Hammers came away with the points so I'm ready for another disappointment, but after Sunderland's amazing win at Chelsea last week it shows the impossible can happen?
Our chances must be boosted after Liverpool's player got injured in England's rubbish midweek defeat by France, their other occasional player Torres might be out although he did come on in Spain's surprise thrashing by Portugal.
Other games include the North London derby which could be one of the last after the Spuds desire to move to East London?
Chelsea go to Birmingham who are not looking as good this season.
Man Utd take on Wigan which should be an easy home win but you never know as Man U lack the killer instinct so far and Wigan are just unpredictable.
Blackpool who survived the Hammers onslaught last week will be missing their goalie who broke his kneecap last week against an unlucky Wolves team who are far better than their league position.

Anyway here's my predictions for this week for what it's worth -
Arsenal v Tottenham 2-2
Birmingham v Chelsea 1-1
Blackpool v Wolves 1-1
Bolton v Newcastle 2-1
Man Utd v Wigan 3-0
West Brom v Stoke 2-1
Liverpool v West Ham 1-2
Blackburn v Aston Villa 1-1
Fulham v Man City 1-1
Sunderland v Everton 0-1

I've just seen on the Beeb website that X-factor person Olly Murs has made some predictions so I'll take him on as well :)
Here's his lot - Arsenal v Tottenham 2-1, Birmingham v Chelsea 0-2, Blackpool v Wolves 3-1, Bolton v Newcastle 1-1, Man Utd v Wigan 3-0, West Brom v Stoke 0-0, Liverpool v West Ham 3-2, Blackburn v Aston Villa 2-2, Fulham v Man City 1-2, Sunderland v Everton 0-1

As always, if anyone else is reading this have a go as well just post your scores in the comments.

Souness v Yosser

Loosely football related,
I was talking to someone about "Boys from the Blackstuff" and remembered this classic scene from Yosser's story featuring Liverpool's Graeme Souness and Sammy Lee.
Although at the time I hoped Yosser would headbutt Souness it's still a great scene :)
So thanks to the person who put it on youtube.

Is It April 1st?

Chelsea 0 Sunderland 3, Did anyone see that coming?
Sorry Longy after I tipped Sunderland for relegation it had to happen!!

Crossed Off

My favourite trip to White Hart lane back in 1981, we had just been promoted and Tottenham had just won the FA cup so this should have been an easy win for the Spuds but Psycho Cross had other ideas :)

Once A Thug

Always a thug.
So Barton gets a 3 match ban for his punch on Pedersen, which is the rules so it's probably right but considering this idiot's record maybe someone one day will say that's it enough is enough now fuck off and go play rugby or some sport where his victim is likely to punch the little cunts head in if he tried this with them.
It would be great if Football was a proper contact sport and players fought like they used to when I was young but it's not anymore so there isn't a place for people like Barton.

From Another Era

I love watching some of the ancient games posted on youtube lots from the old Big Match programme which used to be shown on a Sunday afternoon on ITV.
Here's a good one West Ham's win at Tottenham in the 1969/70 season with World cup heroes Hurst, Peters and Moore playing for the Hammers alongside tricky winger Harry Redknapp (whatever happened to him?), Tottenham's star player was Jimmy Greaves who had a nightmare.
Anyone who says diving is a new thing should look at the dramatic dive taken by Jimmy Pearce to earn the spuds a penalty which Greaves misses :)
Muddy pitches, dodgy haircuts and beardy Jimmy Hill ... great stuff :)

Predictions (Week 12)

Another weekend of Premier action approaches and from my point of view the big game is the Hammers v Blackpool which is getting to the stage of a "must win" game.
Anyway here's the predictions

Aston Villa v Man Utd 1-1
Man City v Birmingham 2-0
Newcastle v Fulham 2-1
Tottenham v Blackburn 1-1
West Ham v Blackpool 3-2
Wigan v West Brom 0-0
Wolves v Bolton 1-1
Stoke v Liverpool 1-0
Everton v Arsenal 2-2
Chelsea v Sunderland 4-0

Longy's Predictions
# Aston Villa v Man Utd 1 2
# Man City v Birmingham 2 0
# Newcastle v Fulham 2 1
# Tottenham v Blackburn 3 1
# West Ham v Blackpool 0 2
# Wigan v West Brom 1 2
# Wolves v Bolton 1 0
# Stoke City v Liverpool 1 2
# Everton v Arsenal 1 0
# Chelsea v Sunderland 3 0

Holloway

Ian Holloway was on form tonight in his after match interview with Radio 5 :)
Have a listen -

Prediction Competition

Round 1 (6th Nov - 7th Nov) - Lee 4 Longy 9
Round 2 (9th Nov - 10th Nov) - Lee 7 Longy 4
Neither of us did very well, but the Everton v Bolton 1-1 swung it for me this time :)
If anyone else reads this blog? you're welcome to join in, just post your predictions in the comments before matchday and I'll do the maths.

F Diddy

I started liking Dogbreath after this :)

Any Takers

These 3 are looking for a new club, I'm guessing Fulham might be in with a shout.

Predictions (Week 11 - Part 2)

Midweek league games for the first time this season with the Manchester derby the highlight, United's injury crisis could favour City but you just don't bet against United in a tough game do you??
West ham have a must win game against West Brom so fingers crossed by me.
Arsenal have a tough one away to Wolves who I can't believe are one place above the Hammers despite playing some really good football this season.
Chelsea should overcome Fulham, Liverpool go to Wigan where they should win but you don't know which Liverpool is going to turn up, and there's some other games which don't really matter :)

If you haven't slit your wrists yet Longy you can try and give me another thrashing at the predictions, here's mine -

Stoke v Birmingham 2-0
Tottenham v Sunderland 2-1
Aston Villa v Blackpool 2-0
Chelsea v Fulham 2-0
Newcastle v Blackburn 2-1
West Ham v West Brom 2-0
Wigan v Liverpool 0-0
Everton v Bolton 1-1
Man City v Man Utd 0-1
Wolves v Arsenal 2-0

Saturday / Sunday

Longy wins the prediction challenge but won't be happy (send money if you don't want me to predict Chelsea wins again), Only die hard scouses could have expected that after the way the seasons gone so far.
Arsenal play some nice football again but Newcastle do the one thing Arsenal struggle with and put the ball in the net.
Tevez was back for City and they got back on the winning trail with 2 goals for hit and miss striker Balotelli who then got himself sent off, West Brom had their 3rd player of the week sent off as their 4th place a couple of weeks ago looks like the highlight of their season.
Yesterday West Ham managed to throw away a 2 goal lead and nearly lost but feel hard done by again by a dodgy ref decision who missed a blatant shirt pull near the end which should have given us a penalty.
Tottenham got stuffed by in form Bolton who are looking a really good team under Owen Coyle and should finish well clear of the relegation area.
Blackpool continue to surprise and if goalie Matt Gilkes hadn't of had an off day they could have shocked Everton.
Man Utd again failed to impress but got the 3 points with a late late goal, tough on Wolves who are looking much better than last season, Owen Hargreaves lasted just 5 minutes of his comeback match (the new Keiron Dyer?).
Fulham left it even later against Villa to snatch yet another draw.
Jason Roberts did his best to miss another open goal but luckily for Blackburn his mis-hit went in off the post for a 2-1 victory over Wigan.
Sunderland managed to win without Bent with Asamoah Gyan repaying some of that 13 million with 2 goals, but Stoke were again robbed by the officials who missed a blatant double handball by Cattermole and possibly the ball being over the line anyway? Cattermole should have had his 3rd red card of the season and Stoke must be thinking that the league have money on them being relegated as for the third game in a row they are cheated by crap refereeing.

Rough Justice

Predictions (Week 11 - Part 1)

The first double week of the season with all the Prem teams playing twice, I'll do another post on Sunday for next weeks games.
A vital period for West Ham with a trip to Birmingham then home games with West Brom and Blackpool plus a trip to Anfield to come, four wins and we're on for a good season, four defeats and we're in deep shit.
At the top Chelsea have a chance to put some distance between them and the rest this month before a difficult December, Man U's 5 wins and 5 draws is not title form, they are not playing well but are still unbeaten, Arsenal can be brilliant but still need a quality striker to put away some of the many chances they make, Man City have been found out this week as without Tevez they look pretty ordinary.

Also it's the Lee v Longy challenge .. ta da
if there is anyone else who reads this have a go as well, but I'm guessing it's just you and me mate :)
3 points for a correct score, 1 point for just getting the right result (Home, Away, Draw).

My predictions -
Bolton v Tottenham 1-1
Birmingham v West Ham 1-1
Blackburn v Wigan 1-0
Blackpool v Everton 1-2
Fulham v Aston Villa 2-1
Man Utd v Wolves 2-0
Sunderland v Stoke 2-1
Arsenal v Newcastle 3-0
West Brom v Man City 1-1
Liverpool v Chelsea 0-2

Longy (Goal friction) predictions
# Bolton v Tottenham 2 1
# Birmingham v West Ham 1 0
# Blackburn v Wigan 2 1
# Blackpool v Everton 0 1
# Fulham v Aston Villa 1 1
# Man Utd v Wolves 2 0
# Sunderland v Stoke City 1 1
# Arsenal v Newcastle 2 0
# West Brom v Man City 1 2
# Liverpool v Chelsea 1 1

Football Memories - The 1980/81 Season

More from the archives :) a bit long winded but ...
The 80/81 season was a pretty good year to be a Hammers fan, on the back of the FA Cup win we had the bonus of a European Cup Winners Cup run and a third attempt of getting back into the top league.
The season didn't start that well with a trip to Wembley to play league champs Liverpool in the Charity Shield.

The game itself finished 1-0 to Liverpool, an early goal by McDermott.
I don't remember much else happening the only thing that sticks in my mind was our substitute Nicky Morgan coming on and brilliantly taking out serial bad tackler Graeme Souness with a lunging tackle, which left the so called hardman on the floor whining to the ref ... justice :)
The league season started badly with a home defeat by Luton then 2 away draws :(
Then things took off, new signing Paul Goddard fitted in well and by the end of the season we had run away with the league finishing well clear of second place Notts County!! the final tally was 28 wins 10 draws and just 4 defeats (including 2 by Luton). We did the double over Chelsea 1-0 away and 4-0 at home and didn't lose a league game after a boxing day defeat by QPR.
The European run was interesting we had drawn Castilla from Spain who were basically Real Madrid's reserve team? the first leg in Spain saw us lose 3-1 and after crowd trouble we nearly got thrown out, considering one of our fans died it seems harsh that we got the blame but a mate who went told me that we were far from blameless and that a load of our fans pissing on the Spaniards from an upper tier of the Bernabeau hadn't helped. The second leg was played behind closed doors and we ran out 5-1 winners, the only home game I missed that season.
The next round we beat Politechnia Timisoara of Rumania 4-0 after losing the away leg 1-0, then we had to play Russian team Dynamo Tbilisi who included some of Russia's best players, we started well with Alan Devonshire playing brilliantly but the Russians solved that with several really heavy tackles and he had to go off injured. By the end we had lost 4-1 and it was probably the only time I have ever clapped the opposition at the end as they were brilliant and would probably have beaten anyone at that time, amazingly we won the second leg 1-0 but the tie was over.
Tbilisi went on to win the competition and one odd piece of trivia from this competition was that the English league had 2 quarter finalists that year - us and 3rd division Newport County!!
Although we failed to defend the FA cup losing after 2 replays to Wrexham, we had a really good season in the League cup, we beat Tottenham 1-0 in the 5th round to get a Semi Final against Coventry, in the away leg we had gone 2-0 up but lost 3-2 in the home leg we were 1-0 up with seconds left expecting extra time when our other new signing Jimmy Neighbour scored an amazing winner to put us through to the final against Liverpool.

The final, excellent game as we matched Liverpool who were probably the best team in Europe at the time and after 90 minutes we were level at 0-0.
It all kicked off right at the end when Liverpool scored, Kennedy's shot went over the clearly offside Sammy Lee who ducked underneath it to decieve Phil Parkes, the linesman flagged the offside but welsh twat Clive Thomas gave the goal? even mild mannered Hammers manager John Lyall ran on to call him a cheat.
With seconds left of extra time Alvin Martin's goalbound shot was handled off the line by cheating bastard McDermott and Thomas finally got a decision right and gave us a penalty which super Jock Ray Stewart banged home to earn us a replay.


The replay was at Villa Park, I was in the Holt end which had been split into two with only a net between us and the scouses.
Liverpool had a young reserve in the team due to injuries called Ian Rush (whatever happened to him?) and cry baby Souness was also missing.
We took the lead early on after Jimmy Neighbour went flying down the right and crossed perfectly for Goddard, sadly Liverpool came back to win 2-1 after a scrappy own goal by Billy Bonds and Dalglish getting the winner.
Personally I only have bad memories of this game as during the second half I was hit on the head by a can of some liquid? thrown over the netting by the scouses which cut my head open, not too serious but it did bleed a bit, but I wasn't going to miss the rest of the game and a blood stained shirt wasn't that uncommon in those days.
After the game some nutty scouse decided to drive his car into our crowd outside the ground and me and many others ended up on the bonnet, he regretted that.

Benitez

A good excuse to use this old picture :)
The sayings of Rafa?
A few weeks back we got "We have a saying in Spanish White liquid in a bottle has to be milk" when talking about the former American owners at Liverpool.
Yesterday's gem "Some people cannot see a priest on a mountain of sugar" referring to Roy Hodgson.

The Weekend

Take That Robbie (there's a joke there somewhere).
I might be rubbish at predictions but a 5-4 win for me over part time pundit Mr Williams :) we both got only one correct score but I take it on four correct results.

West Ham pushed Arsenal all the way and were unlucky to lose in the last minutes, Rob Green played a blinder but poor finishing again cost the Hammers.

Chelsea showed some title form coming back against Blackburn in a tight match.

Comedy moment of the year in the Man U Spuds game :) Nanny falls over and catches the ball, Gomez picks it up and runs 10 yards and drops the ball, Twattenburg is clearly signalling play on, Nanny gets up and kicks the ball in the net, goal to Man U and the Spuds suddenly demand a free kick? Obvious question is if Gomez thought the ref had blown for a free kick why did he run to the edge of the box before dropping it when the handball was near the bye line?

Liverpool grab a late away win in a dull encounter with Bolton, Newcastle hit 5 against Sunderland (didn't see that coming), Everton continue to improve, Fulham actually win and Wolves beat Man City proving that No Tevez = No Chance.

One game left this week with the newly promoted Blackpool and West Brom play, both have had a bit more success than they could have hoped for so far but despite the impressive results Blackpool are still only one point clear of the bottom 3, but with only 2 wins separating 5th placed Tottenham from 19th placed Wolves it's still wide open.

Football Memories - 1980 FA Cup Run

By the 1980 season I had been a regular at all home and a lot of away games for 4 years - working lad living at home Booze, birds, records and Football .... the usual :)
The 1979-80 season was our second in the 2nd division and after finishing a disappointing 5th in 78-79 we also missed out this season mainly due to the cup run.
We had a great team at this point with class acts like Phil Parkes, Ray Stewart, Billy Bonds, Alan Devonshire and Sir Trevor Brooking. Backed up former Man U striker Stuart Pearson, journeyman striker Dave Cross, young Paul Allen in his first season, Alvin Martin, Geoff Pike, Patsy Holland and slim Frank Lampard.
We had beaten Aston Villa 1-0 in the 6th Round which meant a semi versus Everton at Villa park, luckily my number came up in the draw for tickets and meant a Sunday morning trip up to Upton park to get my ticket.

The game ended up 1-1 with our equaliser memorable due to Stuart Pearson lying injured and being ignored by the Everton defenders and suddenly getting off the floor and running on to a through ball to score.
Brian Kidd getting sent off after his punch up with Super Jock was another great moment.
The replay was hastily arranged for the following Wednesday which meant a quick trip up to Upton Park on the monday afternoon to get a ticket and and having to book a coach trip to Leeds and also pleading with the boss for a short notice day off.

An interesting day having to leave at mid day and getting to Leeds around 6pm, the game itself was only memorable in the first 90 minutes for the brilliant non stop singing of the Hammers fans, extra time was probably my greatest 30 minutes of football supporting as we kept plugging away at our higher rated opponents and were rewarded when Alan Devonshire beat the entire Everton defence to tuck in a superb goal, Latchford equalised and the scoreboard showed that a second replay was arranged for Highfield road Coventry on the following Monday meaning going through all those hassles getting tickets, transport and time off again :(
With seconds left Frank Lampard somehow got his head to a cross and we had won 2-1 ... amazing.
Didn't get home till 4.30am the next day and had to be up at 6.30 for work but it was worth it.

The final meant queueing up for hours at Upton park on a Sunday morning to get a ticket. £3.50 shows how times have changed :)

The day itself worked out brilliantly with us beating Arsenal 1-0 although the old Wembley stadium wasn't the greatest place to watch football, when Brooking scored we were at the other end and so far away we really couldn't tell if it was a goal for a few seconds until the wave of cheering spread around the ground.

Football Memories - 1975

The 1974/5 season was the first year that I made regular visits to Upton Park and it turned out to be a great season, we finished a respectable 13th and won the FA cup.
I managed to get a ticket for the Semi final but didn't have the money to go to the replay and couldn't get a ticket for the final.
We had beaten Arsenal at Highbury 2-0 with Alan Taylor scoring twice in the 6th round but were still underdogs for this game as Ipswich were top 3.
This game at Villa park ended up 0-0, the replay at Stamford Bridge saw us win 2-1 with Taylor again scoring twice.
The final saw us beat Fulham 2-0 with Taylor again the hero :)

I did manage to get a ticket for the Charity shield at the start of the next season where we were beaten 2-0 by League champions Derby.

Football Memories - 1974

Here's a shock for you, my first major final attended wasn't a West Ham game it was arch enemies Tottenham!!
My uncle was an avid spuds fan and had taken me to a couple of games in this season, he had got a few tickets for this first leg of the final and luckily he invited me to go with him and my cousin.
The match ended up 2-2 after Tottenham had twice taken the lead, they lost the second leg in Holland 2-0 the week after.
Probably the last time I cheered for Tottenham, I was only 13 and didn't know better :)

A glitter badge from the 1995 Merlin premier league set.

Predictions (Week 10)

Week ten of my increasingly bad predictions, if I'm gonna be wrong I might as well go for a Hammers victory over the Arsenal .. it's not like we haven't won there in recent history so you never know.
A few local derbies this week with Villa v Brum and the Toon v Mackems can see both those finishing as draws with a few red cards thrown in.
Chelsea have a tough one but expect them to hit Blackburn on the break a couple of times, Man U v Spuds could be difficult for Fergie's mob but I'm hoping for a vintage Manc victory, and Liverpool could come unstuck at Bolton but maybe they've got a bit of confidence now and might scrape a draw if they can keep own goal specialist Carragher out.

Arsenal v West Ham 1-2
Blackburn v Chelsea 0-2
Everton v Stoke 2-0
Fulham v Wigan 2-0
Wolves v Man City 0-1
Man Utd v Tottenham 3-1
Aston Villa v Birmingham 1-1
Bolton v Liverpool 2-2
Newcastle v Sunderland 1-1
Blackpool v West Brom 2-2

Just for added interest I'll be taking on Robbie Williams as he posted his predictions on the Beeb site, although he seems to have forgotten the Blackpool match?
Robbie's version -
Arsenal v West Ham 3-1, Blackburn v Chelsea 0-1, Everton v Stoke 2-1,
Fulham v Wigan 2-0, Wolves v Man City 1-2, Man Utd v Tottenham 2-2,
Aston Villa v Birmingham 1-0, Bolton v Liverpool 2-1, Newcastle v Sunderland 1-1.

Predator

Rooney

Trying to take our minds off the Tories latest attempts to kill the poor, we've had the Rooney saga ... yawn.
My first thoughts were he wants more money, he's on 90k a week at the moment they probably offered him 120k but he'd read that City were paying Yaya Toure about 220k so he thought he tried a bit of bluffing to get a bit more, as it goes it has turned out to be a masterstroke from his agent Paul Stretford, Rooney takes all the shit but walks away with 160k a week at least and no doubt Stretford is getting a nice little percentage.
The whole story about him worrying over United's ambitions just didn't ring true, the words used in Rooney's statement .. well you just couldn't imagine Rooney coming out with anything as intelligent as that.
I imagine Chelsea and Everton will be disappointed at the outcome, Chelsea's only real challengers are Man U and with Rooney gone you just couldn't see them scoring enough goals to keep up the pace, Everton I believe have a large sell on clause on Rooney so would have liked a slice of the reported £50m fee

Predictions (Week 9)

Much better last week with 4 correct scores and 6 correct results :)
This weeks tips as follows -

Tottenham v Everton 2-1
Birmingham v Blackpool 2-0
Chelsea v Wolves 3-0
Sunderland v Aston Villa 1-1
West Brom v Fulham 1-1
Wigan v Bolton 0-0
West Ham v Newcastle 2-1
Stoke v Man Utd 1-1
Liverpool v Blackburn 0-0
Man City v Arsenal 0-1

Big game of the week City v Arsenal, if Arsenal really think they have any chance of the title this is the sort of game they must win, if they lose then it looks like City will take their place in the big 3.
Man U usually step up when the pressure is on and this is the ideal week to do it even without Judas.
None of the other games really stand out although the Hammers v Newcastle game brings back some good and bad memories for me, an 8-1 win in the only season we challenged for the title and a 5-0 opening day win many many years back but also nearly being petrol bombed on a visit to St James's in the Eighties :(

Malcolm Allison R.I.P

Sad to hear that Malcolm Allison passed away today.
A legend in the early seventies after he had coached Man City to four major trophies in partnership with Joe Mercer, and became (with Brian Clough) one of the faces of TV football at the time, never short of a controversial quote he seemed like the original Mourinho.
As has been said today he introduced the pre match diet for footballers that is widely used today 30+ years before Arsene Wenger thought of it.
After leaving City he never had that level of success again, but was always entertaining.
A sad loss :)

Classic Match

Man U v West Brom this weekend and I thought of this match from way back, I remember watching this on a Sunday lunchtime in Brian Moore's "Big Match" which showed highlights from the previous days games, and it rated as one of the best matches I'd ever seen and I (obviously) still think of it.
Late seventies memories - Big Ron, short shorts, dodgy haircuts, racism, muddy pitches, Bryan Robson's perm!! all things we're glad to have seen the back off, but some of the matches were just brilliant.

This one ended 5-3 to WBA with some classic goals none better than Cyrille Regis's fifth, the West Brom team at the time were one of the most entertaining around with Bomber Brown, Len Cantello, Laurie Cunningham and Cyrile Regis.
Laurie Cunningham looked superb in this game and you can only wonder if it was down to the racism of the times that he wasn't an England regular, although I have read since it didn't help that after signing for Real Madrid he hadn't asked for an international release clause which caused him to miss a lot of England games that he would have been selected for, sadly Laurie died in a car crash in 1989 :(

Liverpool Redsox

For non Liverpool fans like me this has been quite a fun week :)
Every day a new twist with court battles here and in the US while getting closer to the day that RBS were demanding their money back with a possible 9 point deduction if Liverpool were forced into administration.
"Yanks out" seems to have been the choice of the scousers, but now they must be really confused as their saviours are another bunch of yanks?
Hicks and Gilette always seemed like a pair of shysters who didn't give a toss about "soccccer" but had seen an opportunity to make a few quid, that being said they did stump up a hell of a lot of cash for Benitez to waste on a bunch of foreign nobodies who have got them into the state they are at the moment.
If they had dumped Rafa straight away it could have been a success story and the Liverpool fans could have carried on doing what they do best - slagging off every other team especially Man U who also ended up with dodgy Americans in charge.
I hear that Hicks and Gilette still have a chance of making their fortune after filing a claim for 1.6 billion dollars against the Liverpool board who sold the club from under them, this story will probably run and run?

If anyone wonders why I have a downer on Liverpool it's a throwback to my active supporter days and my "closest to death" experiences all came while attending Liverpool v West Ham matches (Home, Away and Neutral), the tragedies that happened later on involving their fans came as no surprise to me.
Several discussions with Liverpool fans ended up with the comment that "Liverpool have the greatest fans in the world" while they were trying to knife me!!

England 0 Montenegro 0

Bad enough having to traipse around Basingstoke trying to find somewhere that was showing the match, ended up in a Beefeater bar with the game showing on a small screen with the sound down and drinking expensive pints.
If England had looked like scoring maybe some of the business types and pensioners might have shown some interest in the game but it wasn't to be.
I quite like Crouch as a player but as soon as he's in the team the rest go to pot and just try aimless crosses in the hope he'll get his head to them? as it was I can only remember one cross that he had a chance of getting his head too anyway.
Bad passing and terrible free kicks were back and we once again looked like the team we saw during the World cup.
England are still in a good position to qualify in this poor group but with away games in Bulgaria and Montenegro and 2 matches against Wales to come they will have to improve a lot.

Serbia

If these had been England fans the Chilean miners wouldn't have made the news at all this week.
Team shirt, Match ticket, Team scarf? no I'll just take my skull shirt, balaclava and wire cutters.

Predictions (Week 8)

Just 4 correct results and no correct scores out of the last 20 matches makes me remember why I gave up putting money on these a couple of years back ... sigh!
But being a glutton for punishment (it's a West Ham thing) here we go again ....
Live from someone else's computer, the might be results from this weekend's Premier league matches.

Arsenal v Birmingham 2-1
Bolton v Stoke 2-1
Fulham v Tottenham 1-1
Man Utd v West Brom 3-1
Newcastle v Wigan 2-0
Wolves v West Ham 1-1
Aston Villa v Chelsea 1-2
Everton v Liverpool 1-0
Blackpool v Man City 1-3
Blackburn v Sunderland 0-0

I can't see Blackpool upsetting City's mercenaries unless they've all got injured after the international break, but stranger things have happened?
Will Everton heap more misery on Sir Roy in the mersey derby?
At least Karl Henry will be suspended for the Hammers visit to Wolves so they might end up with 22 complete legs at the end?
Chelsea go to Villa which is not one of their favourite fixtures with only one away win this century! although they stuffed them at home 7-1 last time.
Unbeaten Fulham go for another draw at home to the Spuds, but a win would be nice.
The other games look pretty bland but you never know? West Brom's attacking style could cause an upset or a hiding?

Sir Roy

I think Roy Hodgson is doing a wonderful job, Liverpool in the bottom 3 after losing at home to Blackpool, following on from their home defeat by the mighty Northampton and Torres is injured again as well.

I've dreamed for years of Liverpool getting relegated to shut up every Liverpool fan you meet who still thinks the reds are likely to win the league and only miss out due to not getting the same amount of blind biased refs that they had every game during their heyday.
Yeah I know West ham are below them but if it finished like this I'd have some consolation .. all I need now is Tottscum to finish in the bottom 3 as well :)

Congrats to Longy after Chelsea beat the arse bandits 2-0, wonder free kick from Alex settled it after Chelsea looked second best for most of the game, as predicted Drogba scored ..... well I had to get one prediction right surely?, the rest were sh*t.

West Ham v Tottenham Part 2

I heard today that Tottenham have also been in contact with the London Olympic committee about the possibility of moving to the new Olympic stadium after the games, although Harry Redknapp on the radio tonight seemed a bit bemused by it all especially as permission has just been granted to expand White Hart lane up from 36,000 to 56,000.
The obvious question is could either Spurs or West Ham fill an 80,000 capacity stadium? that would depend on prices and the success of the teams, I have been part of a 55,000 crowd at Tottenham several times in the early eighties and 40,000 crowds at Upton park in the seventies before both grounds capacities were reduced for the all seater's.
Personally I'd give it to Tottenham or Orient or anyone else even though it's on our doorstep as the thought of a half empty stadium with a running track around it doesn't inspire me much, it just makes me think of when I went to see Billericay play in the vase final at Wembley many years back although about 18,000 were there it just seemed empty, I still miss the days when the Upton Park stands were right against the pitch and as a kid I'd pat Trevor Brooking and others on the back as he took a throw in.
My feeling is that neither team will end up there as the politicians seem set on keeping the stadium as an athletics track and it will end up being subsidised by the tax payer until eventually someone pulls the plug and the thing gets knocked down and sold off to a property developer at a knock down price.

Predictions (Week 7)

After last weeks terrible predictions I thought about not bothering, with only 2 correct results (and one of those 26 goals out haha), but I'll keep it up for the duration so here's some more -

Wigan v Wolves 1-1
Birmingham v Everton 1-1
Stoke v Blackburn 0-1
Sunderland v Man Utd 0-2
Tottenham v Aston Villa 1-1
West Brom v Bolton 1-0
West Ham v Fulham 2-1
Man City v Newcastle 2-0
Liverpool v Blackpool 2-0
Chelsea v Arsenal 2-1

Big game of the weekend obviously Liverpool v Blackpool :)
no I mean Chelsea v Arsenal, recent games would suggest if Drogba plays Chelsea should win as he seems to like playing Arsenal and usually scores, we'll have to see if he can bully the new almost unknown pairing of Squillacci and Kocsielny (spelling unsure?) like he usually does, although Arsenal had one bit of luck with Almunia's mystery injury and sub Fabianski looking quite good in the week.
Fabregas and fat Frank are expected to be out.

Nice

Rob's salute to the press :)

Carlos Tevez

Ugly as f*** but what a great player.

This Week

Carlos is asking my loyal reader "what was the score?"

So Chelsea fail their first big test of the season after a pretty dull game at Man City sees them lose to a Tevez goal, Ancelotti follows in Capello's steps by then taking off their most likely scorer and replacing him with a donkey.




Arsenal lose at home to one of the lesser teams and from the highlights seem to have been outplayed by West Brom, Calamity Almunia actually saved a penalty but made up for it with errors for the 2nd and 3rd goals.
Liverpool benefit from a dodgy refs decision or two (as usual at Anfield) to scrape a draw with Sunderland, still not sure why Steven Gerrard is immune from Red cards, Darren Bent scores twice and is looking more and more like a credible England striker.
Still can't believe Everton are at the bottom but glad that the Hammers have moved above someone.

All Is Forgiven

We might have had a crap start and looked like relegation candidates, but a win over the yids means it just don't matter anymore :)
1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 take that Redknapp and your Tottscum mates oh yeah.
As it goes we are starting to look like a decent team again, we weren't too bad against Bolton and Chelsea despite losing and last weeks draw at Stoke and the great win in the week against Sunderland proves Grant does know something about management which we all hoped.
Obinna again looking like the player Inter Milan signed and Piquionne benefiting in confidence from being preferred to the under performing Carton Cole.
The next 3 games against Fulham, Wolves and Newcastle will see if this new confidence is deserved as they are 3 games we should win if it's going to be a reasonable season.

1-0 1-0

Predictions (Week 6)

Prediction time again, last week I thought I'd done better till I checked what I'd written :( sure I had Arsenal to draw and Manu to win, oh well 3 correct scores might have been worthwile if I'd put my money down.
This weeks lot next, and yes the West ham one is silly, but that was the score when we played them on Fifa 07 last week :)

Man City v Chelsea 1-1
Arsenal v West Brom 3-0
Birmingham v Wigan 2-1
Blackpool v Blackburn 0-0
Fulham v Everton 2-1
Liverpool v Sunderland 1-1
West Ham v Tottenham 27-0
Bolton v Man Utd 1-2
Wolverhampton v Aston Villa 2-1
Newcastle v Stoke 2-1

Cobblers

Some super games and results in the latest round of the Carling cup, biggest shocks were Liverpool losing at home to Northampton on penalties after the other merseyside team Everton were dumped out by Brentford last night.
Liverpool losing always brings a smile to my face as all the scouse fans I know still live in the eighties and think Liverpool are still a top team, results like this prove the reality :) although I'm slightly sad for Roy Hodgson who I like unlike the previous manager Rafa twat Benitez.
Tipping Everton for a top 4 finish seems to have put the curse on them as they also lost on pens but you have to blame Moyes for playing fat lump Yakubu up front who as he showed in the World cup cannot hit the target from 2 yards out with an open goal.

Best game of the round was Newcastle beating Chelsea 4-3 made more impressive by the fact that Chelsea had more first teamers playing than the bar codes and the ref gave Chelsea a really dubious penalty.
There seemed to be a sniper in the ground as well as Alex, Kaloou and Benny all collapsed without anyone touching them.

West Ham won yay!!! Obinna looked impressive again and Piquionne managed to hit the target :)

Man City crashed out, Man U eased through, Villa came back from a goal down to win 3-1 with Heskey scoring!, Bolton blew out to Burnley, Stoke kicked out Fulham in more ways than one, and Arsenal who are the masters of playing kids and reserves in this competition stuffed the spuds 4-1.



Hopefully the next round will bring the same excitement, c'mon you Irons.