Holidays, social media & Jon Stead

It's that time of the year when players are jetting off all around the world on their travels, and with the joy of twitter and Instagram we can feel as if we are taking that holiday with them!

Now we're big fans of young Harry Kane but dude.. Seriously you are on a bike on holiday - Why on earth would you need to take a selfie!

Imagine if moments after he took this, he came flying off the handlebars and a piece of the bike managed to lodge itself up young Kane's bum... Ouch! Remember the golden rule - Safety first then team work!

Anyway as we debate (over a cheeky Pimms and lemonade) who's gonna set the league a light this year, we wanna know who's your favourite one season hit wonder??

Cracking question the man in the flat cap shouts!

Personally we're loving the Jon Stead story.

Just over 11 years ago the big man was making back page news with some stella performances for The Terriers. It wasn't long before Blackburn (Yep the fallen giant of Premier League past) came calling and paid a cool £1million -  Stead was branded the next Alan Shearer.... unfortunately it didn't all go to plan! A move up north to Sunderland followed although he left his shooting boots back in Blackburn, the goals had all but dried up and it wasn't long before he was loaned out and on the move again.

After many moves and loans Stead had practally disappeared off the face of the planet, this one time future England international had been restricted to the archives of the footballing past! But the magic of the FA Cup was about to re-write Steads chapter in footballing folk law!

Last season Stead found himself shipped out on loan again - this time to Bradford. Things weren't going too well in the league -  failing to hit the net on a regular basis - it was if the goals had been sucked right out of him.

But then as if by magic......

We all say the FA Cup can make a grown mans dream come true! And it was the magic of the cup that put Jon Stead back on the footballing map! Scoring a hat fall of goals in Bradford's cup run to the Quarter finals! Including a peach of a goal against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge! A pure moment of magic! It's taken a while for Stead to make the back pages once more,  but hopefully at the ripe old age of 32 this charming man as many more headlines in him for his new club Notts County!

FA Cup - Where's the magic gone??

April 19th 2015 - Liverpool v Villa in the second Semi final of the once prestigious FA Cup, theres no  double page pull outs in the papers, not much shouting about it on the box, and only a handful of people tweeting about it, mainly from the clubs involved. What on earth has happened to this ICON of the footballing world?

Theres more noise about this weekends Premier League games in the news than the two semi finals. Leicester City are off the Bottom - Chelsea grind out result against United thats all the back pages read, a small column in the bottom left hand corner mentions the result of the other semi final, theres no bells or whistles and no pun - Just the full time score.

British football is now dominated by the riches of the Premier League. Clubs would rather finish 4th than win the cup... how times have changed. In five years time no one will remember who won the FA Cup in 2015, yet they will remember who finished fourth that season! Just look at Spurs and Everton they have spent so long trying to break back into the monopoly of the top 4, yet if they had just given that extra push in the cups they would have surly won a few medals instead of having an empty trophy room!

One of the games greats - Gerrard is calling time on his Liverpool career to move over to the MLS, if you ask him right now what would he rather achieve in his final season with the club - a top four finish or a FA Cup medal, I bet he would be undecided! Yet years ago players like Gazza, Adams, Ginola, Gray, Rush would of laughed at that question, in fact that question wouldn't off even existed.

Something needs to change for the love & the future of the game! Maybe just maybe when the money dries up  the Premier League may fall from grace just like the FA Cup.

The Midweeker

It's that time of the week... the midweeker has entered the building, covered in what can only be described as a manly musky smell! after a bit of banter with Edison the tea boy, he heads to his desk which has been covered in post-it notes and betting slips since the day we opened!

I'm only predicting the League Cup this week lads, and i can see Swindon doing Villa and Norwich getting the better of Spurs, as for Chelsea they need to man up, who reports a ref for swearing? bunch of kids!