Season 2011/12

All the domestic stuff has finally finished and here is the final list of what happened.

Premier League
Champions - Man City
Champions League - Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea
Europa League - Tottenham, Newcastle, Liverpool
Relegated - Wolves, Bolton, Blackburn

Championship
Champions - Reading
Promoted - Southampton, West Ham
Relegated - Portsmouth, Coventry, Doncaster

League One
Champions - Charlton
Promoted - Sheff Wed, Huddersfield
Relegated - Rochdale, Exeter, Chesterfield, Wycombe

League Two
Champions - Swindon
Promoted - Shrewsbury, Crawley, Crewe
Relegated - Macclesfield, Hereford

Conference
Champions - Fleetwood
Promoted - York
Relegated - Kettering, Bath City, Darlington and Hayes

Nostalgia - Hooligans On TV

An early eighties edition of the London Programme focusing on football hooligans.
Mainly featuring Chelsea, Tottenham and England but also an interview with Cass Pennant.

Nothing you haven't seen before but still interesting from a nostalgia point of view, they say the top ten "firms" of that time are Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, West Ham, Millwall, Portsmouth, Sheff Wed, Newcastle, Leeds and Man Utd, from a personal point of view I was surprised they included Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday and would have said Stoke and Liverpool instead.

I used to watch the London programme mainly because of the brilliant theme tune :)

Congrats Huddersfield

Congratulations to Huddersfield who beat the scum to win the League one play-off today on penalties, such a shame for McCabe and the rapist :)

A pretty dull game which ended 0-0 after extra time leading to a pretty amazing penalty shoot out. Huddersfield managed to miss their first 3 penalties, Sheff Utd missed 2 of the first 3, former Southend player Peter Clark finally broke the duck for Huddersfield and Taylor missed for Sheffield meaning after 4 penalties it was 1-1 and sudden death!!

The next 12 penalties were all scored leaving just the goalies to take kicks, Huddersfield keeper Alex Smithies who was a late replacement stepped up and scored, experienced Sheffield keeper Steve Simonsen blasts the ball over the bar and that was that :)

Huddersfield's decision to sack Lee Clark and replace him with another unfairly sacked manager ex-Leeds boss Larry Grayson seemed one of the worst decisions of the season, but it has paid dividends and you wouldn't expect me to cheer on Sheffield United :)
So we shall see if Jordan Rhodes can do it at the higher level next season.

Just one more thing to be settled this season with tomorrow's League 2 play off between Cheltenham and Crewe who both beat the odds to get to Wembley a few weeks back.

Decisions

Eurovision 2012 or England v Norway friendly?
Sadly I like Cheese :) so the footie is being recorded.

Really gutted that after being off work for over a month with my various medical problems and stretches in hospital I go back to work next week and almost certainly I won't be able to book any more time off in a while.
 My hours are 2-10pm meaning I will be at work during all of England's Euro 2012 group games :(
If we get through to the quarter finals that will be a weekend game but the semi's are midweek as well.
I have one of those mini handheld telly's which have served me well in previous tournaments but now we've gone digital that's just another piece of useless crap in my cupboard :(

Going Green

Well with Drogba gone and Torres sulking they are going to need some superheroes to compete with the Manchester clubs.

Worthy Cause

If you've got some spare money and fancy spending it on something unique then visit here - bobbymoorefund

It's the E-Bay auction on behalf of the Bobby Moore fund for Cancer research.
If your loaded you can go with the Chelsea squad to a European game, get a signed David Beckham shirt or maybe a VIP trip round the Emirates or even deluxe seats and a meal for the upcoming England v Belgium game. Plus a load of non football items.
Even if you are hard up you might be able to afford the 4 tickets to a Leyton Orient game with a signed shirt, or a pair of Robert Green's signed gloves :)

A good cause, and some interesting items :)
 

Well Done Chelsea

Well that was a good day all round unless you were a Munich, Blackpool or Tottenham fan :)
I'm obviously still on a high from earlier and I'll admit I was cheering Chelsea on tonight and they kept it nail biting till the end.

A fairly ordinary first 80 minutes with a few good chances for both, then Muller scored for Bayern with a header that Cech really should have saved, but you just knew it wasn't over as Drogba hadn't scored yet as he always does in finals, and sure enough a brilliant header levelled it with 3 minutes to go.
Extra time and Munich get a penalty, it looked really soft with Drogba just catching Ribery's foot and I can only assume Ribery hurt himself with the dive as he had to go off? up stepped Robben and Cech pulled off a great save :)
So it ends up with penalties again and you worry about any team winning on penalties against Germans, but despite Mata missing the first one Cech pulls off 2 fine saves to leave Drogba the chance of scoring the winner ... which he does :)

Such a great and unique sight of Germans crying after a penalty shoot out, superb :)

Play Off Final

Fucking nerve wracking but Awesome!!!
So we can forget about the Championship again, West Ham are back in the premier league :)

The Match
Decided to go down the internet stream route as I can't afford Sky and the various tablets I'm on at the moment mean I can't drink :((
My internet streams over the season have been pretty shit rarely getting more than 10 minutes without it stopping or crashing, but I thought I'd found a good one as I watched the build up in high quality without problems, but within minutes of the game starting it was stop/start/stop improving a bit if I switched to watching it in small format, changed to a lower quality stream which improved things a bit for the rest of the game.

Slightly worrying start with Blackpool having 2 good chances early on but then the Hammers got their game together and started to make a few chances with Cole and Vaz Te managing to break Blackpool's offside trap, it was also noticeable that West ham were winning nearly every header.
Finally after about 35 minutes Matt Taylor broke down the left and after one slightly lucky deflection he was through to cross to Carton Cole who finished superbly :)
Kevin Phillips had been kept quiet and as half time comes we are 1-0 up.

Second half began and the Hammers started well but then Blackpool break away the "son of scum" Tom Ince equalises :(
Matt Taylor then clears off the line from Baptiste and the tide is turning :(
Tactical change and O'Neill is off to be replaced by Linda with Taylor going forward, minutes later injury prone defender Demel is down and out and we have to bring Faubert on, and seconds later Collison has hurt his injured shoulder :(
Luckily Collison is fit to carry on but Blackpool are totally on top, Carton Cole has one great shot saved but Blackpool are all over us for the next 30 minutes.
Stunning volley by Nolan hits the crossbar but livens the Hammers up for the final 10 minutes.
With 3 minutes to go Nolan breaks down the left and crosses for Cole it breaks free for Ricardo Vaz Te who bangs in the winner :D

Carlton Cole was fucking brilliant, Tomkins was superb and Vaz Te always looked the most likely.
Shame for Holly but hopefully they can go up next season.

YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nearly There

Getting excited now, less than 24 hours to go.
Totally confident of victory and just hoping the game is a classic :)
Would love to see it end up something like 5-3
.....  although 1-0 will do :)
.

European Cup Final 2012

If anyone is still sober on Saturday night after the big game, we shouldn't forget the other match the Champions?? league final from Munich.
Chelsea will be helped by the added support of Arsenal and Hammers fans who want them to win to deny Tottenham a Champions?? league place next season :)

For the record neither of these teams were Champions last season, Chelsea were 2nd and Munich 3rd in their domestic leagues, so I still cannot get my head around why they call this the Champions league?

Munich should be very much the favourites due to them playing at home and having nearly a full strength team to choose from, they are missing 2 suspended defenders Alaba and Badstuber but most of the big names are there. Bayern have looked good in this seasons competition and did well to knockout Mourinho's Madrid in the Semi on penalties (well they are German), they have a good selection of top class players such as German internationals Schweinsteiger, Lahm, Gomez, Neuer, Boateng, Muller and Kroos as well as the world's ugliest player Franck Ribery and diving Dutchman Arjen Robben.
Domestically they have been second best again to Borrusia Dortmund who hammered them last week in the German Cup final 5-2 inspired by Man U target the talented Japanese player Shinji Kagawa.

Chelsea haven't had the best of seasons and will be missing 2 of their best players Ramires and Ivanovic as well as Terry and the guy with the weird hair, Cahill and Luiz might be back from injury just in time but chances are they will have to risk playing dodgy defender Jose Boswinga :(
Almost certain is that Didier Drogba will lead the line as he has been awesome recently, and will be interesting to see who produces the best dive on Saturday night out of him and former Chelsea player Robben :)
Torres and Sturridge could both me match winners if they come on, and Fat Frank is due to hit the target a few times in what has been a poor season for him.
The referee is Portuguese Pedro Proenca.

... and the best of the jokes - 
"Suspended Terry can lift trophy" say UEFA, Not sure why Bayern Munich would want him joining in their celebration?
 

Some Music For Saturday

Here's a bit of music for the play off final :)

 West Ham


Blackpool


and one for the ref :)

Oh No!! They've Kicked Kenny

You Bastards!!

Sad news for all of us non Liverpool fans, King Kenny will have to return to his retirement home after being shown the door at Anfield.
Even the living legend of Merseyside has to pay the price of failing to live up to supporters belief that Liverpool are still a big club.
He didn't do too bad this season with one Mickey Mouse Cup win and an FA Cup final appearance, plus they were never really in danger of going down and finished a reasonable 8th.

The fact he spent money like he had an arab billionaire behind him without any noticeable improvement shouldn't be held against him as Rafa Benitez had been doing that for the six years he was there, and if the press are to be believed Benitez is the favourite to get the job back?

The Scottish mafia has taken a big hit this week with Kean and Coyle relegated, McLeish and Dalglish sacked and even Ferguson losing the mind games battle with Mancini.
One odd thought I had which will probably not be considered, is probably the best guy for the job is not too far away .... about a mile across Stanley park???

England Squad For Euro 2012

England Squad For Euro 2012

Goalies - J Hart, R Green, J Ruddy
Defenders - J Terry, A Cole, G Cahill, G Johnson, J Lescott,  L Baines, P Jones
Midfield - S Gerrard, F Lampard, T Walcott, A Young, J Milner, A Oxtail-Chamberlain, S Parker, G Barry,  S Downing
Forwards - W Rooney, A Carroll, J Defoe, D Wellbeck

Reserves - J Buckland, P Jagielka,  J Henderson,  D Sturridge, A Johnson

Left Out -
S Carson, P Robinson, B Foster, F Fielding
R Ferdinand,  M Richards,  L King, K Walker, C Smalling, K Gibbs
J Cole, M Carrick, J Wilshere, A Lennon
P Crouch, D Bent, B Zamora

Not many surprises, the only controversial omission was Rio Ferdinand probably down to the Terry incident but also the fact Rio has been injury prone for a number of years and is due another breakdown?
The 2 best reserve keepers Foster and Robinson don't want to play for England anymore so an easy choice.
In defence I would have expected Micah Richards to be in after Kyle Walker pulled out injured, Phil Jones has looked dodgy recently but can play anywhere like Milner so that is why he is there.
Scott Parker was supposed to be injured but has been included, Downing hasn't looked that good recently but Adam Johnson has suffered from being a squad player at City while Downing plays regularly.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is not a surprise as there was always going to be one player who bursts in at the last minute and he looks good.
Up front I would have liked to see Daniel Sturridge and Peter Crouch as it looks risky having to play the first 2 games with only a choice of Carroll, Wellbeck and Defoe none of which have set the Premiership alive this season.

We go into this championships with low expectations and if we do well it will be a bonus?

Blackpool

Just 5 days to go till the biggest match of the season, yeah I know there is a game in Munich on that day as well but the one that really matters is at Wembley :)
My days of going to games are probably gone now and it wouldn't be right if the only Hammers game I go to all season was the one everyone wants to see and I denied a genuine fan a ticket, lack of cash and just being out of hospital and still feeling like shit make this very unlikely unless some old friend pops round this week with a spare ticket in hand (wishful thinking) :) Although if Southend make it through on Wednesday night I might get to Wembley this season, as I'm on their ticketing list we shall see?

At the start of the season I was hoping for West Ham to go back up as champions, with Blackpool as runners up and either Birmingham or Ipswich to go up via the play offs. As it has turned out only one of us will make it which is a shame :(

Our record over Blackpool is pretty good although we have only met 4 times in the last 40 years, 4-0 and 4-1 this season and 3-1 and 0-0 last year, but a one off game at Wembley could go either way?
Our last 2 play off finals have been decided by one goal and dodgy refereeing decisions in 2004 we were favourites against Crystal Palace but lost 1-0 in a game that Graham Poll showed his bias by ruling out 2 good Hammers goals.
In 2005 Preston were probably favourites but we came out on top after Bobby Zamora's goal, but had a let off near the end when Goalie Jimmy Walker handballed on the edge of the box and should have been sent off? but the fact he twisted himself trying to keep his hands inside the penalty area meant he came down awkwardly on his knee and had to be stretchered off probably saved him.

So although we really should win comfortably you have this sort of stuff in the back of your mind, Kevin Phillips is always likely to score and refs don't really like us. Plus Ian Holloway must be the most inspiring manager there is so if it's tight that has to be an advantage?

Anyway for any Blackpool fans that might read this I've been through the old mags and found these from 1973 :)

A few well known players Wyn Davis, John "Budgie" Burridge, Paul Hart and Micky Burns who scored one of the greatest goals of the seventies. I used to love seeing Burridge before games when he would do his acrobatics and go walking round the penalty area on his hands! totally nuts but a great character :)

Cigarette Cards (Part 1)

Bristol City - Now in the Championship, I do remember them being in the top division during the seventies but have spent most years in the second and third tiers.
Manchester City - The new Premier league champions, thanks to the Arab money have returned to the top table after many years of under achievement. One of those clubs that most people quite liked but I've no doubt the hatred will start soon.

Bolton Wanderers - Sadly relegated yesterday, although holding on to Premier league status for a few years they have not been one of the big boys since the 1920's
Newcastle - Had their most successful season in many years, and really for a club of their size and support should be in the top ten regularly.

Everton - Have a great history but have lived in the shadow of Liverpool for most of the last 50 years and despite a few good seasons sadly don't seem to be able to compete financially with their noisy neighbours.
Swansea - I always thought of them as Wales' 3rd biggest team behind Cardiff and Wrexham, but recent history shows they are the only ones to have made the top division in the last 50 years (twice). Not sure why they call themselves City when Swansea is not actually a city?

Bristol Rovers - the Black Arabs? never heard that before, although a well known club really they haven't won anything of note and have never been in the top division. I think of them as a big club mainly because of them winning the Watney cup in 1972 which used to be a big event on telly in those days :)
Barnsley - Had one season in the top division back in the nineties with the "just like watching Brazil" team but have spent most of their history in the second tier which is not too bad really.

Leicester City - One of those nearly teams having been runners up in the league and FA Cup (4 times), had a brief period of glory under Martin O'Neill when they won the league cup twice.
Norwich City - Back in the big time this season and have done pretty well with most of the players that got them out of league one 2 seasons ago, like Leicester their only trophies have been the league cup twice.

Dickhead Barton Special Agent

Joey Barton's still fighting his demons. So chinning Carlos Tevez was just a case of mistaken identity.

They all thought that Joey Barton had left Man City but it looks like he is still on the payroll. His dog is now wealthier than Harry Redknapp's.

After his attacks on Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez, the British Army have recruited Joey Barton and he is to be stationed in the Falkland Islands.

You can tell a lot about a person by their eyes, For example if they have a cigar in one of them chances are they know Joey Barton.

Went to the hairdressers earlier and asked for a "Joey Barton", Although I was less than impressed when I left with the word "Twat" shaved into the back of my hair.

"I went down easy" admitted Joey Barton after his collapse against Arsenal earlier in the season ... I bet he was popular in prison.

Ladbrokes have opened a book on where Joey Barton will start next season? I've put a tenner on Belmarsh.

Nostalgia - Ciggy Cards

I have just scanned a collection of 1930's cigarette cards of the 50 biggest teams of that era from an old magazine.
I love all this old stuff and hope you will too :)

Muppet Of The Season

There is an obvious winner here but please vote anyway :)
The poll is on the right, with the 10 football related people who I think deserve recognition for their outstanding contributions.

Joey Barton started and ended the season with the thug behaviour that we have been used to for many years, although somehow he has become a minor celebrity during the season for appearing to be "intelligent"??

John Terry has again managed to lose the England captaincy this time for on pitch antics after racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, and then his idiotic foul in the Champions league semi nearly cost Chelsea the game.

Luis Suarez diver extraordinaire and racist moron.

Neil Warnock has the amazing knack of blaming everyone else for all his failings, despite bringing in a shedload of expensive players at QPR he turned them into almost certain relegation candidates and has followed up by making Leeds also rans when they looked certain for the play-offs before his arrival.

Ched Evans rapist scum.

Carlos Tevez, I obviously like the guy and reckon he is one of the best players in football, but his 6 month sulk almost cost City the title and showed him up as a prize muppet.

Steve Kean totally out of his depth as a manager and really didn't seem to know why everyone hated him, I know he was unlikely ever to land another managers job but he really should have walked.

Mario Balotelli is an easy choice, yes is he is a great player but only on days when he wants to be and yes he is young but the mind is probably still 10 years behind the body.

Kenny Dalglish for his blind support of Suarez showing his football brain is still stuck in the 80's.

Garth Crooks, why oh why is this guy on telly every week? his rants can send insomniacs into a deep sleep and he really doesn't seem to know the first thing about football.

Premier League Final Day

Final day and still a few things up for grabs.
Man City need to win to guarantee the title, Man Utd have to win to stand any chance.
Arsenal, Tottenham and Newcastle fighting for 3rd, 4th and 5th where only 3rd is guaranteed Champions league football next season.
At the bottom Bolton have to win at Stoke to overtake QPR, QPR themselves need only a point to be absolutely safe but they are at Man City.

Half time -
Man City lead 1-0 but have lost Yoyo Toure to injury, QPR might have been happy early on but with Bolton now winning they have to do something.
Man Utd also 1-0 up with a Rooney goal but anything but safe.
Arsenal started well but then found themselves 2-1 down before pulling a goal back.
Tottenham got an early goal against Dempsey-less Fulham, you would expect them to carry on unless Martin Jol still holds a big grudge and feels he owes Tottenham some payback.
Newcastle looking dead and buried at 2-0 to Everton.
Bolton got a really bad start but have come back to lead which at the moment keeps them up.
The other games not really mattering at the moment.

Second Half -
Great start with Cisse scoring for QPR, and Arsenal have taken the lead again.
Oh dear Joey Barton the Twat is back!! he elbows Tevez who is not usually a diver and then after being sent off kicks Aguerro and has a bust up with Ballotelli, probably means QPR will go down and City should go on to win, maybe Barton is still a secret Man City fan? but after a season where he has improved his reputation he has reverted to type and proved he's a 100% Twat.
The Spuds have scored again. Everton 3 up.
Amazing stuff QPR have scored again!!
Stoke have just scored to take the pressure of QPR.
Bolton game finishes and suddenly QPR give up and concede 2 goals in the last few minutes to give them the title amazing stuff!!!
The Man Utd game finishes with them as champions but 2 minutes later they are runners up.
Arsenal finish 3rd thanks to Ben Foster being injured and reserve Fulop having a nightmare, Tottenham win and finish 4th meaning we all have to cheer Chelsea on next week :)
Newcastle finish 5th but still can be proud of a good season.
Swansea beat Liverpool, Norwich, Chelsea and Wigan all win and Bolton are relegated :(

Not the results I really wanted as I'd predicted Man U as champions and QPR getting relegated and neither of those happened, you have to wonder what would have happened if Stoke hadn't equalised against Bolton? would QPR have carried on to get the result insted of throwing the towel in? we shall never know.

Good Luck Southend

Southend play Crewe today in the first leg of the play offs, so I'm hoping for a good performance today before next Wednesday's second leg :) Strange that Southend have never played at Wembley, they managed to get to a play off final and 2 LDV/Paint trophy finals when they were held in Cardiff (which I went to) but when it's been Wembley they usually miss out? so hopefully this is the year :)

Better Days

2005 Play Offs Ipswich in the semi's and Preston in the final.
Pardew had created a great team from the rubble with Etherington, Harewood, Zamora, Reo-Coker, Mullins etc all showing they could do it here and in the Premier league the following season before the Icelandics came along and shat on Pardew bringing to an end one of the most promising periods in West Ham's history.

Good Days

A great win at Stamford bridge with 2 cracking goals by Paolo and also Zola for Chelsea, the Hammers won 3-2 despite Mike Dean having one of his better games for Chelsea.

Premier Predictions (Week 38)

Here we go, the final one of the season :(
Longy wins again but who knows next season? But hopefully I will be predicting West Ham's scores wrongly again :)
I'm back in the hospital tomorrow for the operation, but if it all goes well I should be out for the weekend so fingers crossed, just in case I've done my predictions first.

Chelsea v Blackburn    
Everton v Newcastle    
Man City v QPR    
Norwich v Aston Villa    
Stoke v Bolton    
Sunderland v Man Utd    
Swansea v Liverpool    
Tottenham v Fulham    
West Brom v Arsenal    
Wigan v Wolves    

Good Day For Sam

A good day all round for big fat Sam :) West Ham win with ease to get to the Championship play off final, and Blackburn get relegated 18 months after the out of touch chicken farmers sacked big Sam when Blackburn were in the top half of the Premier league and looking up.

Halfway There

FA Cup Final

Congrats to Chelsea for winning the FA cup again 2-1 over Liverpool.

They made hard work of it at the end after looking safe for most of the match, Andy Carroll came on in the 55th minute and for the first time actually looked like a £35 million pound striker as he terrorised the Chelsea defence.

Chelsea really should have put the game to bed long before Carroll came on with Ramires scoring early and Drogba scoring his usual Wembley goal, but they seemed to be happy to settle for that and I guess no-one not even Dalglish would have expected Carroll to have such an impact.
He turned Terry inside out with some fancy footwork to bring Liverpool back to 2-1 and then his brilliant header looked to have equalised despite Cech's brilliant save, on the replays the ball looked 99% over the line and about 3 foot further over the line than Mata's semi-final goal but it wasn't given.
Unlucky on Carroll and Liverpool but Chelsea fans will see it as payback for that "goal" given in the Champions league semi-final a few years back.

Cup Final Day Memories

Here we are again it's FA Cup final day.
I think this year it has reached it's lowest point as I haven't seen one advert on telly to tell me when it is on, footie programmes on the box only talk about the Premier league and it's hardly had a mention in the papers.
My mother-in-law although not a big footie fan usually watches the big matches and always asks me who I'll be supporting did not know the game was this weekend.

The fact the game has been moved to 5:15pm probably means the FA itself don't really care for the match either as there is a full fixture list of league 1 & 2 games today plus one Premier league game, the chances of most of the supporters of the 3 O'clock games getting home to watch the match are slim.

So different from the way I grew up with the FA Cup, the first final I can remember watching was the 1970 Chelsea v Leeds final which was a real blood n' guts affair and ended up 2-2 with Chelsea winning the replay (remember those), the following year was another classic with Arsenal beating Liverpool 2-1 with Charlie George's famous goal and on through the seventies with more classic games like underdogs Sunderland beating Leeds, Southampton  beating Man U, Ipswich turning over Arsenal, the Hammers beating Fulham, Arsenal's 3-2 win over United etc.
The first one I went to was West Ham's win over Arsenal not a great game but I didn't care and as it's turned out we were the last lower league team to win the Cup.
Throughout all these years the FA Cup final was the only football anyone ever seemed to talk about, there would be cup final related programmes on telly all week, the newspapers were full of it and everyone would be backing a team in the final. Cup final day on telly was nothing but build up to the 3 O'clock kick off with both the BBC and ITV putting on all sorts of cup final special programmes, interviews with all the celebs of the time and the famous "on the bus with" features, the teams would come out for their walk around in their new suits and while the anthems and Abide with me were being played the teams would be on the pitch ready for the pre match presentation to whichever royal was on duty.
This build up happened most years right up until the nineties when it suddenly seemed to tail off, the fact the Premier league was up and running probably had something to do with it?
I think it was 1999 Man U's treble year when for the first time the Cup final didn't seem to matter as much, obviously United were thinking about the following weeks European cup final and the press and others seemed to treat the game with a bit of contempt.
The final moved off to Cardiff after Wembley was closed for rebuilding and most of the games there were pretty good, but all that Cup final build up had been removed and you would just tune in about 1 O'clock for the games.
Last year the Cup final wasn't even the last game of the season and Premier league games were played on the same day, this year they have gone further :(

As for today's game Chelsea should be favourites as they have won 4 of the last 6 Wembley cup finals and Didier Dogbreath just can't stop scoring there. Liverpool's last 2 FA Cup wins were both due to the usual biased refs they always seem to get, a 2-1 win over Arsenal where with Arsenal leading 1-0 Henchoz handballed Ljunberg's shot off the line and the ref and lino were the only people in the ground not to see it, then their penalty kick win over West Ham in 2006 where cheating bastard Reina came running out to meet every Hammers penalty without ever being pulled up for it?
Today's ref Phil Dowd doesn't seem to have any obvious bias but he did referee the Chelsea Liverpool Carling cup game this season and issued 6 yellows with 5 of them to Chelsea.

Roy Hodgson England Manager

Is Roy Hodgson the best man for the England job?
I'm not sure but I can't think of anyone better at the moment.
The press began the asassination of him straight away over his speeech impediment and the fact he played in South Africa as a young player. Obviously the press wanted Harry Redknapp due to the amount of easy shit they could throw at him if England don't win every game, but with Roy they are limited to the sort of personal attacks they had to dream up with Bobby Robson and especially Graham Taylor :(

One thing that has really pissed me off in papers and with media interviews of so called England fans is "he's not won anything"?
One of the candidates has managed all over the world won 7 league titles and 2 cups in Sweden, took Switzerland to the World cup and European Championships and to 3rd in the world rankings, took a fading Inter Milan to the UEFA cup twice including a final, took Blackburn into Europe, took Copenhagen to the Danish title for the first time in many years, took over Fulham and turned them into an established premier league team and even made the Europa league final beating Juventus on the way. Managed a very poor Liverpool team and was sacked but £135 million has been spent improving the team since and they still had their worst league season in history so maybe he wasn't that bad. He can also speak five languages.
The other candidate has won the FA Cup once with a team built on borrowed money which is probably why Portsmouth have been so close to going out of business ever since. He did manage to win an Intertonto cup while at West Ham after getting the job by "allegedly" stabbing Billy Bonds in the back for which we forgave him after he built a pretty good team which finished 8th then 5th, but once Leeds paid £18 million for Rio Ferdinand he re-discovered foreign agents and we ended up with about 15 dodgy foreign imports and the team started to fall apart. Not that I'm bitter of course ...

Good luck Roy and let's hope some of the mob that have let us down so many times in recent years actually perform for you and we have a great European championships, although I'm sure even if we win the press won't be happy.

Premier Predictions (Week 37)

Two weeks to go and the title is still up for grabs if the Newcastle that played at Chelsea tonight turn up instead of the one thrashed by Wigan at the weekend.
At the bottom it's still 2 from 5 but if Wigan carry on the good form on Monday night that should send Blackburn down.

It still seems wrong to have the FA Cup final during the season and at 5:15pm ?? I've included it in this lot but just the first 90 mins, as my prediction of 0-0 after 120 mins and 1-0 on penalties would get confusing :)

Posting first just in case :)

Saturday
Arsenal v Norwich

**Bonus** FA Cup Final (90 minute score please)
Chelsea v Liverpool

Sunday
Newcastle v Man City
Aston Villa v Tottenham
Bolton v West Brom
Fulham v Sunderland
QPR v Stoke
Wolves v Everton
Man Utd v Swansea

Monday
Blackburn v Wigan

Tuesday
Liverpool v Chelsea

The new blogger posting is pissing me off, I have to re-edit everything after I post

Off Sick

Sorry to anyone that's missed me over the last week (hopefully some of you?).
Maybe it was the shock of watching Fernando Torres score an important goal in the ITV highlights? but within minutes I was doubled up in pain and the wife was pleading with me to call an ambulance, being the big brave guy I am I said "no it will pass" my resistance lasted a good 10 minutes before it was "call the ambulance .. argh it hurts" :(
At least I got my first ever ride in an ambulance which arrived after about an hour (I thought they promised to arrive within 10 minutes?) because at 1am on a Wednesday morning it was obviously really busy?
My problem is not life threatening just needs a routine operation, but after going into a hospital a few months back and coming out without the op being done I assumed this time I would get my op done but after a week in hospital treating the related infection and having minor surgery I was sent home today with the prospect of it all happening again soon :(
I'll have to look into getting some form of mobile internet as well, because I've really missed the internet.