Japan V England
Graz, Austria
The air in Graz was thinner than Adrian Chiles jokes and hair line combined, and with the ground having a distinct look of the League One's about it, today was the FA at its very worst. I kinda liked the retro 45 minute clocks (with 60 minute markings) on the stands and the nets to catch the balls behind the goals, but I still think it was the wrong opposition in the wrong location. It was never going to be a good workout and Fabio will take even less from this than he did against Mexico. Most of our players were not good enough today and there are definately more questions than answers. However far we get in the WC, it will be down to our Manager and not the players, there are far better teams than England and they will all be laughing their way to the Trophy after they see the DVD of today's game.
England seemed to treat this like a tedious league game rather than an International fixture, and it was very easy for Japan to close us down and stop us playing. When England did pass the ball it was poor, sloppy and very ineffective. The other thing that was sloppy and ineffective was the defending for the opening goal. England switched off, failed to read a simple corner, and were caught out. I think the inclusion of the "missing" Chelsea players from the Mexico game caused more harm than good and Ledley King can't go to the WC if he can only play 1 game a week.
I thought 5 changes at half time was a cry for help and appeared to show Fabio putting all his eggs in one basket - not the kind of tactic I want to see in the final game before the USA game. Frank Lampard's penalty was horrendous and he telegraphed it perfectly, the lack of skill on show all game was amazingly worrying, nothing was fluid and everything was predictable. On the balance of play England deserved something from the game, but 2 own goals from flat balls into the box can't do the confidence of anybody any good.
Clive Tyldesly's commentary at times was at best patronising, and so patriotic it was embarrassing. He doesn't half spout some trash, but not as much as Andy Townsend! When Darren Bent's substitution appeared on the stadium screen as "D Brent", he commented that if David Brent is playing for England, perhaps I will be named in the final 23 too. Forgetting of course that he spent years and years playing for the Republic of Ireland. I think I might have to mute the tv for the whole of June.
Sunday, 30 May 2010
Saturday, 29 May 2010
One Player in, One player Out
Forest Grim Rovers wanted Ross Dyer last season but only offered us peanuts and conkers. Now they have their man and will have to pay Hednesford compensation. This transfer could well go to a tribunal and Hednesford would have a considerable case for a very large settlement. Ross has been at Hednesford Town for 12 or 13 years, he has spent time as Captain and over the last 3 seasons, his strike rate is better than 1 goal every 2 games. The problem I see is that FGR do not have a lot of money, and if a tribunal goes in our favour they may have to stump up more than they can afford to. I am very pleased for Ross and wish him well for future seasons, but if it wasn't for the misfortune of other clubs, he would only have stepped up one League. The Conference is where every non-league player wants to play and Ross was no exception.
Joining Hednesford is Mark "Bello" Bellingham. A prolific striker with an exceptional scoring record everywhere he has played. His day job as a member of Her Majesty's Constabulary could mean that he won't be available for every game, but Bernie has done wonders to persuade Mark to come to Hednesford and I couldn't have wished for a better replacement for Ross & Ty. Well maybe Stefan Moore - but don't mention that to Mark. Hopefully his signing could persuade other players to stay and sign for another season too.
Joining Hednesford is Mark "Bello" Bellingham. A prolific striker with an exceptional scoring record everywhere he has played. His day job as a member of Her Majesty's Constabulary could mean that he won't be available for every game, but Bernie has done wonders to persuade Mark to come to Hednesford and I couldn't have wished for a better replacement for Ross & Ty. Well maybe Stefan Moore - but don't mention that to Mark. Hopefully his signing could persuade other players to stay and sign for another season too.
Thursday, 27 May 2010
The Worst Ever England Team (BBC3)
On Wednesday night BBC3 announced their worst ever England team in a programme lasting 90 minutes of my life which I will never get back. Made up of players who have pulled on the 3 Lions shirt, and based on their antics off as well as on the pitch. Most are included due to their contributions to the National Team though. Well worth repeating as there were some suprises!
GK - Peter Bonetti (7 Caps, 0 Goals)
RB - Warren Barton (3 Caps, 0 Goals)
CB - Keith Curle (3 Caps, 0 Goals)
CB - John Terry (59 Caps, 6 Goals)
LB - Phill Neville (59 Caps 0 Goals)
RM - Kieron Dyer (33 Caps, 0 Goals)
CM - Joey Barton (1 Cap, 0 Goals)
CM - Carlton Palmer (18 Caps, 1 Goal)
LM - Steve Hodge (24 Caps, 0 Goals)
FW - John Fashanu (2 Caps, 0 Goals)
FW - Michael Ricketts (1 Cap, 0 Goals)
Manager of course was Steve McClaren. No subs needed for this team, everyone is as bad as eachother!!
GK - Peter Bonetti (7 Caps, 0 Goals)
RB - Warren Barton (3 Caps, 0 Goals)
CB - Keith Curle (3 Caps, 0 Goals)
CB - John Terry (59 Caps, 6 Goals)
LB - Phill Neville (59 Caps 0 Goals)
RM - Kieron Dyer (33 Caps, 0 Goals)
CM - Joey Barton (1 Cap, 0 Goals)
CM - Carlton Palmer (18 Caps, 1 Goal)
LM - Steve Hodge (24 Caps, 0 Goals)
FW - John Fashanu (2 Caps, 0 Goals)
FW - Michael Ricketts (1 Cap, 0 Goals)
Manager of course was Steve McClaren. No subs needed for this team, everyone is as bad as eachother!!
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Waste of a Game
Ireland V Paraguay. Why? Was there any point? Especially after this was only arranged after Irelands elimination. I am guessing more for Paraguay's benefit than Ireland - most of the Irish would rather have been sat on a beach somewhere hotter, probably not anywhere in France though! It would have made more sense to play it in London too. There are probably more Irish there than in Dublin anyway, and better grounds than some two bit lacrosse field with no atmosphere and a capacity to rival only Bloomfield Road. I am sure the players would have appreciated it too. I gave up after less than 10 minutes and watched The Pacific on my V+ Box, then I made a bacon sandwich.
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
England World Cup Warm Up Match #1
England 3 - 1 Mexico @ Wembley Stadium, London, England.
If Peter Crouch was scolded by Fabio for wearing slippers in that Austrian Hotel, you can tell how big a Taskmaster he is. Mexico are no mugs, unless Sven is in charge of course! Been there and done that, my condolonses to Ivory Coast.
ITVhd and Peruvian beer again, and I can guess that the only thing bigger than the smug smile of Adrian Chiles is his paycheque. No amount of money could tear me away from the lovely legs of Christine Bleakley. Mmmmmmmm nice.
Not much mention of the pitch during the game but plenty beforehand. I put it down to building the wrong design of stadium in the wrong geographical place. You might have thought bells would have started to ring, when they had to replace the red seats with a different kind of red seat, BEFORE the thing had opened in the first place. This thing called the Sun had been shining and pink became the new red.
Ten minutes into the coverage and Bittersweet Symphony is already niggling away and wanting me to reach for the mute button, as if Andy Townsend and Gareth Southgate weren't bad enough! Sky Sports News in the post season isn't even that tedious.
Well done to Wembley for the England T-shirts flag thingy. Quite corny, but it worked and even the Corporates joined in, so why was it that we were playing with corner flags emblazaned with a Wembley logo and not the National flag? Get it sorted FA. World Cup 2018 my arse!
Another well done to the England fans for staying quiet during the Mexican Anthem, a big thumbs down to Milner, King and Rooney for not even making the effort to move their lips to sing their National Anthem. Any player who can't be arsed to sing it, should be dropped. Its not as if its that hard to learn the bloomin words.
We also had what looked like a Japanese Teenager as a Ref, who got away with wearing the same colour shirt as the England Keeper. Lets hope he doesn't get a Brazilian game in South Africa! He had quite a good game actually and lets hope thats the quality we will see over the next few weeks. Martin Atkinson seems to be clocking up the Air Miles and likes seeing himself get a game as 4th Official as much as possible. I would rather continue to see him hold the subs board in the air though, as opposed to see him in the middle with a whistle in his mouth.
Now onto the game. lol. Young Theo started off gliding down the wing like a porpoise in a Scottish Loch, but then his nemesis took over and his final ball let him down. The whole team played rather too deep and rather worringly indicated an intention to play on the counter-attack. Carrick looked worried and I didn't even know Leighton Baines was playing until he forgot to clear Franco's goaline misskick.
King and Crouch scored after the Mexican's forgot to defend and Johnson scored with his wrong foot. Peter Drury's over enthusiastic commentary left a lot to be desired and made the game more exciting than it actually was.
A good win against a decent team, who will probably get no further than the Second Round. I have learned nothing from that game and the four Chelsea lads who were rested after playing 12 days ago, will have to play 3 games in that same time period in South Africa. Fabio knows what he is doing though doesn't he?
If Peter Crouch was scolded by Fabio for wearing slippers in that Austrian Hotel, you can tell how big a Taskmaster he is. Mexico are no mugs, unless Sven is in charge of course! Been there and done that, my condolonses to Ivory Coast.
ITVhd and Peruvian beer again, and I can guess that the only thing bigger than the smug smile of Adrian Chiles is his paycheque. No amount of money could tear me away from the lovely legs of Christine Bleakley. Mmmmmmmm nice.
Not much mention of the pitch during the game but plenty beforehand. I put it down to building the wrong design of stadium in the wrong geographical place. You might have thought bells would have started to ring, when they had to replace the red seats with a different kind of red seat, BEFORE the thing had opened in the first place. This thing called the Sun had been shining and pink became the new red.
Ten minutes into the coverage and Bittersweet Symphony is already niggling away and wanting me to reach for the mute button, as if Andy Townsend and Gareth Southgate weren't bad enough! Sky Sports News in the post season isn't even that tedious.
Well done to Wembley for the England T-shirts flag thingy. Quite corny, but it worked and even the Corporates joined in, so why was it that we were playing with corner flags emblazaned with a Wembley logo and not the National flag? Get it sorted FA. World Cup 2018 my arse!
Another well done to the England fans for staying quiet during the Mexican Anthem, a big thumbs down to Milner, King and Rooney for not even making the effort to move their lips to sing their National Anthem. Any player who can't be arsed to sing it, should be dropped. Its not as if its that hard to learn the bloomin words.
We also had what looked like a Japanese Teenager as a Ref, who got away with wearing the same colour shirt as the England Keeper. Lets hope he doesn't get a Brazilian game in South Africa! He had quite a good game actually and lets hope thats the quality we will see over the next few weeks. Martin Atkinson seems to be clocking up the Air Miles and likes seeing himself get a game as 4th Official as much as possible. I would rather continue to see him hold the subs board in the air though, as opposed to see him in the middle with a whistle in his mouth.
Now onto the game. lol. Young Theo started off gliding down the wing like a porpoise in a Scottish Loch, but then his nemesis took over and his final ball let him down. The whole team played rather too deep and rather worringly indicated an intention to play on the counter-attack. Carrick looked worried and I didn't even know Leighton Baines was playing until he forgot to clear Franco's goaline misskick.
King and Crouch scored after the Mexican's forgot to defend and Johnson scored with his wrong foot. Peter Drury's over enthusiastic commentary left a lot to be desired and made the game more exciting than it actually was.
A good win against a decent team, who will probably get no further than the Second Round. I have learned nothing from that game and the four Chelsea lads who were rested after playing 12 days ago, will have to play 3 games in that same time period in South Africa. Fabio knows what he is doing though doesn't he?
Monday, 24 May 2010
Hednesford Town Match News
The Chase Cup will again be contended by Hednesford Town & The Strangers. The "away" leg will be on July 17th with the return game at Hednesford a week later. On a personal note I would like to see us convert this into a mini tournament played with 4 teams over two days. Chasetown? Heath Hayes? Hednesford? and Stafford? It would make it more exciting, there would be a few more in attendance and it would be a good advert for local non-league football.
Conference North side AFC Telford visit Hednesford on 3rd August and Kidderminster Harriers who finished 13th in Conference National visit Keys Park on 7th August.
That suggests to me that the league campaign kicks off on 14th August. Seems a bit late considering all the problems with fixture congestion we see these days.
Conference North side AFC Telford visit Hednesford on 3rd August and Kidderminster Harriers who finished 13th in Conference National visit Keys Park on 7th August.
That suggests to me that the league campaign kicks off on 14th August. Seems a bit late considering all the problems with fixture congestion we see these days.
Hednesford Town Player News
After Tyrone Barnett left to join Macclesfield, Bernard McNally has signed Goalkeeper Dan Crane from Solihull Moors and Striker Craig Marshall makes a welcome return to Keys Park.
I don't know anything at all about Dan Crane, but he has been playing at our level and above for a couple of seasons. I do recall Craig from his previous spell and have seen him on odd occasions since he left. He returns a stronger and probably more effective player and is in the same kind of mould as Ty. Fingers crossed he can score just as many goals!
Sean Platt, Stuart Brock, Josh Craddock and Dorryl Proffitt will also be playing their football at Keys Park next season.
I don't know anything at all about Dan Crane, but he has been playing at our level and above for a couple of seasons. I do recall Craig from his previous spell and have seen him on odd occasions since he left. He returns a stronger and probably more effective player and is in the same kind of mould as Ty. Fingers crossed he can score just as many goals!
Sean Platt, Stuart Brock, Josh Craddock and Dorryl Proffitt will also be playing their football at Keys Park next season.
Sunday, 23 May 2010
German Butt Plugs
..goal, but still concedes two!
Champions League Final
Bayern Munich 0 2 Inter Milan
A headline writers dream eh? I am only suprised I came up with it before Jim Beglin. He,he.
I decided to watch the game on ITVhd, only because Virgin don't carry Sky's HD Sports Channels (yet), and once you have seen a game in HD - you never go back to Standard Def. Trust me. Roll on the World Cup! Accompanied by a bottle or two of Peru's finest Cusquena beer, I was ready to roll.
The first thing I noticed was all that tip-ex that someone had spilt on the touchline in the Bernabeu, what were all those swirls about and what did they contribute to the game? I am guessing not a lot. It looked like they were just using up the rest of the paint used to mark the pitch. I had also decided to plump for Inter before kickoff, although Italian football has never been one to keep you awake at night, they had been playing the better football throughout the tournament. I only wish now I had been brave enough to wager a dollar or two.
While the predominant shirt of choice for those in the crowd appeared to be white, it was certainly a case of "one size definately doesn't fit all" for some of the Bayern players. Try before you buy obviously doesn't apply to football shirts.
While the Dutch & South American players clobbered each other out of the game, there were more grey hairs on Mourinho's head than an entire box set of Last of the Summer Wine. Bayern had a lot of the play and tried to play like an Italian side until they conceded - lots of build up play, but on this occasion it didn't build up to anything. After that it was too late and Inter were very un-Italian in their approach which probably went in their favour. The "Chosen One" took no notice whatsoever of his technical area, one of the many things that you might want to thump the bloke for, but the football world would be a much less boring place without him.
Howard Webb did a decent job in the middle, little or no simulation, but Robben does get higher marks for his diving than he does for those disgusting flourescent boots. Chivu was allowed to wear a head guard and neglect to tie it up properly. It does cover more scars than a Glasgow Hospital on a Friday night though, and fair play to him for playing football the same season as having Brain Surgery. Not many people could do that, someone should give him a medal! Oh yes. He just won one.
Sneijder's free kicks are very dangerous as is Milito who is a good bet at 28-1 to be Top Scorer at the World Cup. Thankfully neither of them are in the same half of the draw as England. Marco "Nutter" Materazzi has far too many tattoo's. One of them is a woman's lips on his neck, or is it just the imprint left by a relative of Zinedine Zidane?
Jim Beglin for reasons only known to him, referred to Inter as FC Hollywood, Mourinho blubbed at the final whistle, some fat adrenalyn fuelled Italian nearly fell off a seat when his team scored their first goal, and as ususal there was a flare fire at the top of the stand, and to top the lot Goran Pandev looks spookily like Gavin McCann.
In more football adverts, Roger Milla can still dance at 58 and he still looks the same as he did when he scored those goals against Colombia in Italia'90. No embarrasing family weddings in that houehold! At full time ITV showed that 3 minute Nike advert where Wayne Rooney lives in a caravan and Christiano Ronaldo appears on The Simpsons. Catch it if you can - there is nothing else like it.
Champions League Final
Bayern Munich 0 2 Inter Milan
A headline writers dream eh? I am only suprised I came up with it before Jim Beglin. He,he.
I decided to watch the game on ITVhd, only because Virgin don't carry Sky's HD Sports Channels (yet), and once you have seen a game in HD - you never go back to Standard Def. Trust me. Roll on the World Cup! Accompanied by a bottle or two of Peru's finest Cusquena beer, I was ready to roll.
The first thing I noticed was all that tip-ex that someone had spilt on the touchline in the Bernabeu, what were all those swirls about and what did they contribute to the game? I am guessing not a lot. It looked like they were just using up the rest of the paint used to mark the pitch. I had also decided to plump for Inter before kickoff, although Italian football has never been one to keep you awake at night, they had been playing the better football throughout the tournament. I only wish now I had been brave enough to wager a dollar or two.
While the predominant shirt of choice for those in the crowd appeared to be white, it was certainly a case of "one size definately doesn't fit all" for some of the Bayern players. Try before you buy obviously doesn't apply to football shirts.
While the Dutch & South American players clobbered each other out of the game, there were more grey hairs on Mourinho's head than an entire box set of Last of the Summer Wine. Bayern had a lot of the play and tried to play like an Italian side until they conceded - lots of build up play, but on this occasion it didn't build up to anything. After that it was too late and Inter were very un-Italian in their approach which probably went in their favour. The "Chosen One" took no notice whatsoever of his technical area, one of the many things that you might want to thump the bloke for, but the football world would be a much less boring place without him.
Howard Webb did a decent job in the middle, little or no simulation, but Robben does get higher marks for his diving than he does for those disgusting flourescent boots. Chivu was allowed to wear a head guard and neglect to tie it up properly. It does cover more scars than a Glasgow Hospital on a Friday night though, and fair play to him for playing football the same season as having Brain Surgery. Not many people could do that, someone should give him a medal! Oh yes. He just won one.
Sneijder's free kicks are very dangerous as is Milito who is a good bet at 28-1 to be Top Scorer at the World Cup. Thankfully neither of them are in the same half of the draw as England. Marco "Nutter" Materazzi has far too many tattoo's. One of them is a woman's lips on his neck, or is it just the imprint left by a relative of Zinedine Zidane?
Jim Beglin for reasons only known to him, referred to Inter as FC Hollywood, Mourinho blubbed at the final whistle, some fat adrenalyn fuelled Italian nearly fell off a seat when his team scored their first goal, and as ususal there was a flare fire at the top of the stand, and to top the lot Goran Pandev looks spookily like Gavin McCann.
In more football adverts, Roger Milla can still dance at 58 and he still looks the same as he did when he scored those goals against Colombia in Italia'90. No embarrasing family weddings in that houehold! At full time ITV showed that 3 minute Nike advert where Wayne Rooney lives in a caravan and Christiano Ronaldo appears on The Simpsons. Catch it if you can - there is nothing else like it.
Saturday, 22 May 2010
A new Blog is born!
As the season has ended and there are is little or no news coming out of Keys Park, this blog will be concentrating on "other" football going's on! It is set up mainly to concentrate on Hednesford Town Football Club and is 100% unofficial. Everybody has their own views and opinions and anyone is welcome to add their views and comment on any posts - pending moderation of course! It is not intended to be serious or offend and should be taken with a pinch of salt. Football is a serious business, supporting football is a pleasure. Remember my programme notes? This won't be too much different to those.
You will probably need to register to post, but it is free and doesn't take long. This isn't intended to replace or better any existing platforms for comment or forums and any material for publication would be appreciated.
There is no shortage of the game we all love so much, even if we might have finished. - As I write this there are 45 minutes gone in the English Championship play off final. I couldn't find Cardiff anywhere on the last map of England that I looked at, so how the hell would they be allowed to play in our Premier League. Don't they have their own Premier League in Wales? I hope Blackpool get promoted, even if those Tangerine's that we met at the services on the way back from Cambridge City, were all too young to remember Super Joe's last minute winner.
The Champions League final is later tonight. A German side managed by a Dutchman against an Italian side managed by a self-proclaimed God from Portugal. Played on a pitch in Spain that is tendered by an Englishman.
The World Cup starts in less than 3 weeks and during the World Cup, it is my intention to update this blog on a daily basis. England are currently away training in Austria, in order to prepare for a South African Alpine winter. Only thing is, aren't Fabio Capello's men supposed to be playing Mexico at Wembley on Monday night? Were there no stadiums free in Austria, or are they also preparing for the intensive bout of travelling in the coming 4 weeks? I think someone has been smelling too much money. The very same England side play Japan on Sunday week. Guess where? Graz in Austria! The mind boggles.
Now I have finished moaning, time for some light hearted relief. So Peter Crouch & Nicola Anelka live next door to Cesc Fabregas and Dirk Kuyt in an apartment block in some unidentifiable, but clearly non-English City. Perhaps half a dream of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Someone who is also dreaming is Paddy Power, who not only is vain enough to appear in his own adverts, but thinks it is funny for someone pretending to be blind to kick a cat so high it ends up in a tree.
You will probably need to register to post, but it is free and doesn't take long. This isn't intended to replace or better any existing platforms for comment or forums and any material for publication would be appreciated.
There is no shortage of the game we all love so much, even if we might have finished. - As I write this there are 45 minutes gone in the English Championship play off final. I couldn't find Cardiff anywhere on the last map of England that I looked at, so how the hell would they be allowed to play in our Premier League. Don't they have their own Premier League in Wales? I hope Blackpool get promoted, even if those Tangerine's that we met at the services on the way back from Cambridge City, were all too young to remember Super Joe's last minute winner.
The Champions League final is later tonight. A German side managed by a Dutchman against an Italian side managed by a self-proclaimed God from Portugal. Played on a pitch in Spain that is tendered by an Englishman.
The World Cup starts in less than 3 weeks and during the World Cup, it is my intention to update this blog on a daily basis. England are currently away training in Austria, in order to prepare for a South African Alpine winter. Only thing is, aren't Fabio Capello's men supposed to be playing Mexico at Wembley on Monday night? Were there no stadiums free in Austria, or are they also preparing for the intensive bout of travelling in the coming 4 weeks? I think someone has been smelling too much money. The very same England side play Japan on Sunday week. Guess where? Graz in Austria! The mind boggles.
Now I have finished moaning, time for some light hearted relief. So Peter Crouch & Nicola Anelka live next door to Cesc Fabregas and Dirk Kuyt in an apartment block in some unidentifiable, but clearly non-English City. Perhaps half a dream of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Someone who is also dreaming is Paddy Power, who not only is vain enough to appear in his own adverts, but thinks it is funny for someone pretending to be blind to kick a cat so high it ends up in a tree.
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