You only sing when you're winning

So not long now until this Summer's World Cup and boy are we in for some fireworks. With all the political fall out between the UK and Russia mixed in with a bag full of steroids, its gonna be pure pandemonium.

With the recent International friendlies now behind us i think its safe to say Spain will be gunning for glory come June. Their recent display against The Argies show they mean business, and Isco in particular feels he has a point to prove after an indifferent season with Real.

Brazil will also fancy their chances, after a disappointing last world cup in their own back yard. Tite has rebuilt the team around his philosophies, and easily guided Brazil through their qualification group with games to spare. With the ever maturing Neymar alongside the impressive Gabriel Jesus, Brazilian fans will be hoping for cricket scores against the lower nations... as well as being able to right the wrongs against The Germans at some point in the knockouts!

Over the coming weeks we will be posting a series of blogs looking at cult moments from past tournaments as well as creating colourful artworks to run along side the piece.

Oi, Ref!

So England won again last night, once again it was a bore to watch, with Wembley hosting the lowest attendance for an England international since 2014! Over 30 thousand empty seats... Come on Gareth give the fans something to enjoy!

One of the highlights of the match was brought to us once again by young Dele Alli, but for a change it wasn't the flick of the foot that caused people to take note.... A cheeky flick of the finger in the direction of the match official! As the ITV cameras caught it, the commentators didn't know what to say, silence filled the airwaves!

We all know it was directed to the ref, yet like a naughty school boy he wouldn't own up, and decided to lie about who he directed it at!

Dele grow some balls!!!

Modern Day Football..... What's all the fuss about?

The world wide web has changed the way we view and interact with the greatest game on earth, from blogs to tweets, every man and his dog as an opinion. One great game for a player now makes him a superstar, from ex pros to pundits they all jump on that bandwagon. We're being told just how good players are compared to the old days, how the likes of Best and Pele wouldn't be able to keep up with todays pace, but is the quality of the football really as good as it was 40/50 years ago?  

Over the next few months we're gonna be dusting off the archives and plough through the statistics that will hopefully answer this long running debate, the only spillage here, will be that of the Midweeker spilling his pint down his bright orange shirt! 

We want goals!

First up in this series, we will be looking at the great art of goalscoring, We've all seen Harry Kane shin it from 5 yards out, Ryan Giggs missing an open goal and that classic Arsenal penalty routine that would be better suited on strictly ballroom! But over a full season how does the modern game measure up to its past? Are we getting more goals on average over a full season? or should we be getting a refund on the ever increasing ticket prices? 

Lets go back to 1958/59 season, A random choice i know!  - Just a few things to point out - The old first division had 22 teams in it, meaning that each team would end up playing 42 league games per season, and to even make it harder, teams couldn't even make substitutions!  The only thing players needed to get through a match back then was that half time cuppa! 

So Wolves had just won back to back titles, banging in over 200 goals in the process (110 during 58/59), whilst second place, Man United also managed to get into the 100's in terms of scoring goals, not a bad effort when you consider most teams ended up playing 10 a side! 

Now back to present times - The top two teams last season (Chelsea & Spurs) only managed to hit the 80's in terms of goals, yet players now days have better nutrition and each team can make unto three subs! 

This pattern continues into the 1960's, During the 60,61 season three teams in the top flight managed to hit the 100's, The champions Spurs, third place Wolves (once again) and fourth place Burnley. Even relegated Newcastle managed to score 86 goals throughout that season. If we head back to 2015/16 when The Foxes managed the impossible, they only managed to hit the 60's in terms of their goalscoring abilities... Now is that entertainment... really? 

When you consider Jimmy Greaves still holds the record of being the outright leading goalscorer in top flight matches in England, (lets not forget he fell out of love with the game at the tender age of 31) it hammers home even more that we are being blinded by fancy advertising and over the top pundits! 

Now don't get me wrong, Big Alan Shearer was top notch but he was still over 70 goals shy of Jimmy's record, and you have to remember he was at The Toon into his late 30's! 

So in terms of putting the ball in the net over a course of a season, it seems the greats of the past found it easier than todays modern not so greats. 

                         

The FA Cup... Is the magic back?

Its Sunday so its time to grab that cup of tea, get them biscuits out, and lets take a look into how the FA Cup has got its sparkle back! 

 Cast your mind back a few seasons... Everything in terms of the Footballing bible was ringing true - 'Money brought success.' Man City proved testament to this. Teams that had to sell to survive ended up falling further and further behind. 'Instant success' was what the fans and the media alike wanted. Managers chopping and changing teams, Arsenal & Chelsea signing individual players costing more than most Championship teams are valued at as a business! It looked like the gap between the divisions was never going to be breached, a similar pattern and fait to what WBA faced in the early 00's 'Boing boing, Baggies Baggies...' Flittering between the two divisions for almost a decade! You could guaranty at least one club coming up from The Championship would end up going straight back down the next season. 

The priority for clubs up and down the country was to make sure they stay in their respective leagues! In theory The FA Cup was a distraction that managers could do with out. *Wigan proved this theory right in 2012/13 When they managed to beat City in the final, only to be relegated a few weeks later! Wigan have not been close to returning to the top tier since. In fact teams of a 'lower' profile that have made it to the final in recent seasons, have ended up being relegated either that season or the following..... Things don't look to good for Big Sam and Palace at the moment! 

After the third round of fixtures it looked nailed on that it was going to be the same old 'Billionaire clubs' making it to the latter stages... But then things started to get interesting, Sutton United and Lincoln City started to cause the odd tremor amongst the lower tier teams. This effect managed to spread across the footballing network and then BOOM! The term 'shock' became less of a shock, Liverpool were fed to the Wolves in their own inclosure, and The Lions who came up against massive off the field distractions made short work of The Cherries and The Hornets (You can also add The Foxes to that list too) and as if by magic The FA Cup started to trend once again... 

Now we're half way through the weekends fixtures concerning the Fifth round, and my gosh its been fun! The early kick off between a solid Burnley at Turf Moor against the non league 'have a go heroes' of Lincoln City. Now no disrespect to the Imps but the biggest test they had faced so far in the cup this season was High flying Brighton in the Championship. (A distraction Brighton could do with out) No one not even the BTSport pundits had given them a chance, The Imps management team of the Cowley brothers, looked calm and collective as they approached the dugout, Danny representing a modern day version of the Legend that is Brian Clough, jogging bottoms and a distinctively coloured top, applauding the traveling fans as he took his seat. 

Before long it was a full on old fashion fight to the death! The script was written for the pantomime villain otherwise known as Joey Barton... Lets just say he got his lines right and hopefully he will end up getting retrospective punishment for being a total tool! Rhead was outstanding for Lincoln and although it must of been tempting to put a cheeky number on Barton the old fashion centre forward restrained himself, allowing for his team to continue with 11 v 11...Something the Burnley lads hadn't expected! 

With time almost up and a replay looking likely, The Imps found themselves with a corner, prior to this set piece it would be fair to say that the others hadn't really gone to plan... The TV cameras focused on the crowd, fans praying for the final whistle so they could walk away with a replay... 

The rest they say is history, and the name Raggett will be talked of for years and years to come! 

  

Here we go again!

It's taken just under 3 months for us to get blogging again after a shocking performance at the summers Euros.... Hats of to Portugal and Ronaldo.... I've heard a rumour we're gonna see if we can help Portugal pay pack some of its national debt by agreeing to sign Ronaldo on loan for the 3 lions next tournament (if we make it!) Something to do with a loop hole when he played over here at United!

In all seriousness it was a a shambles and it was great to see the FA finally give Roy that final push over the diving board and into the shake infested waters... closely followed by everyones favourite pundit Gary Neville.


Once the bloody had subsided and the waters had calmed back down the FA decided to search the deep depths of our footballing nations ponds (lower leagues) and quickly realised that the ponds were almost emptied of any decent English managers!

In a panic and mist of salt and vinegar flavouring the FA appointed BIG SAM.....

Football fans were outraged! The Scots thought it was the funniest thing since Billy Connolly! 

All jokes aside the Big Man recently got his first international out of the way, and at first glance - Nothing much had changed, Rooney was still living on yesterdays glory and Joe Hart was still in goal even though he had a summer to forget and Harry Kane... well the less said about that the better! 

Twitter was going mental, they wanted blood, they wanted the Big Man to fail at the first hurdle.... Some of the tweets were bang out of line, talk of Big Sam being a secret Jock.. looking to put the final nail in the coffin of our once proud footballing nation! 

The difference this time was that the Big Man had a plan and a vision, as simple as it seemed - "Play to the final whistle" and like the great club teams managed by Sam the lads took that vision on board and well in the depths of extra time we managed to bag all 3 points! It may not of been pretty but in the short time SA has been in charge, England already look a million miles better than they did under Roy! 

Could we dream of a World Cup trophy in just under 2 years? or will it be another false dawn????? 

Payet

What a season this chap is having! last season no outside of France had even heard of Payet... It's safe to say 12 months on every man and his dog now know about Payet. 

West Ham fans may well be worried that he could be heading to a champions league club after the Euros.... 

The Midweek's Team Of The Year

It's that time of year again where we look back and pick out our heroes and moments from 2015.

In footballing terms it's been a random year of results, signings, sackings and look-alikes! Who'd have thought the likes of Neville & Sheringham would get a crack at managing? Considering Neville's first job is that of guiding Valencia up into the Champions League places - its school boys own stuff! It gives hope to all of us playing championship manager! As for Teddy it's proving a harder pack of assorted nuts to crack! Stevenage haven't kicked on under him and although the Hertfordshire team have been understanding in letting Teddy do things his own way, If they carry on sliding down that table towards the trap door that is non-league football ,that understanding will be pushed to the limits! I've heard a rumour that the Stevenage board have got the Midweeker on speed dial!
Now it wouldn't be an end of 2015 year blog with out mentioning Jose... Well we just have and that's all we are saying on the man (If you flick back to a few posts to an earlier blog we've covered all what we needed to!)

Right then down to the fun part  - wait for it... t's our team of the year! 11 players that have sexualised football fans throughout 2015! Making punters spill their tea all over the person sat in front of them! Forget the half time Pie this is all about the side portion of mash! 

We're gonna make this post short and sweet - Due to everyone wanting to get the first round of tea's in early doors ahead of NYE - But first we fill the keeper in our team needs a special mention!

This player has been outstanding throughout his career although things took a bit of a nose dive in the late part of 2014, finding himself on the bench at a club he had been at since 2004! During the summer he had a big question to ask himself! "Do i sit here at the Bridge on the bench playing with my iPhones drum app or do i find a new challenge?" After a lot of definitely maybes the big man got his switch across the capital to Arsenal.  

"Last summer, things changed and I understood I was no longer the first-choice keeper, but I felt it was not the right time for me to go. During the season it became clear that my situation would not improve and, as I know I am not at the stage of my career where I want to be on the bench, I made my decision to move on and look for new challenges." Čech 

It was claimed by some that Petr Čech was coming to the end of his career, that he was past his shot stopping best. "The helmet had finally gone to his head" This didn't stop Arsene spending £10 million on him, and what a signing it's turned out to be. For the unbelievers and Chelsea fans all i can say is that Arsenal are heading into 2016 as league leaders, from a neutral point of view it's sickening as Wenger shouldn't still be in footballing management he looks more like a school teacher! 

The main reason Arsenal are doing so well this season.. it's simple it's all down to a man named Čech!

Right you lucky bunch lot of footballing fans! lets get down to business! The remaining 10 places in our team of 2015! There's no room for the likes of Terry, Bony, Walker or even Radamel Falcao (I know Falcao has been electric this season and it may come as a bit of a surprise but he ain't gonna force his way into our team.) So after a good few minutes of thinking here's are team of the year! 

In a World of José

For weeks it's been a case of will he or won't he... Yesterday the news broke that The Special One was once again booted out the door @ Stamford Bridge and from a neutral point of view i'm gutted. Mourinho is the modern day icon. He is what the Premier League is about - The arrogance, flair, genius, outrageous, box office. Unfortunately for both him and the league he's management skills for now have come to an end. Depending what is written in his severance package it could be a hell of a long time until we see him managing back in the English top flight.

With so many clubs struggling to find their form this season it's outrageous that Chelsea felt they needed to sack arguably the greatest manager of the modern footballing era.

Ok a few results have gone a bit wrong and the league position isn't the greatest but they easily qualified for the knock out stages of the Champions League and face a winnable tie against PSG.

Have the board forgotten that winning the Champions League means your back in it the following season... It wasn't long ago Chelsea had a similar situation when they finished 6th yet won the CL.....

Now there is a slight ( i repeat slight) possibility that the board deep down were worried that Chelsea could end up getting relegated but in all fairness there is another transfer window about to open and on current form there are around 6/7 teams playing worse than Chelsea! But who's to say the new manager will turn the fortunes around this season???

Will big name players be up for a relegation scrap? Will their top transfer targets come or will the likes of Kane, Stones and co rather see out another few months at their current employers and see what unfolds in the summer?

Everyone has gone on record to say what a great leader John Terry is.. Well now the chips are down this is where the veteran defender will need to earn his keep!

We've got an interesting few months ahead of us.

Who will Chelsea have as their next manager???

Where will they finish come May???

What next for The Special One???

Klopp of tea....

What a week we've had in terms of domestic football.. Ok i know a ball hasn't been kicked on the pitch but off it... Theres been a lot of tea drinking and banter doing the rounds! Where better to start than up north in Sunderland! The Mackems finally have their man! BIG SAM! Ok i know a lot of people can't stand the type of football the big man plays but it will keep Sunderland up! So i think for now the fans need to get behind their team and let Sam guide them to safety! Remember safety first then team work! Theres no point playing attractive football if it doesn't get you anywhere.. just ask Spurs fans their team have been doing it for years!

It will be interesting to see who Sam brings in during the winter window i wonder what odds you could get on Andy Carroll on joining him up north (that media slagging match could be a perfect cover to get him at a knocked down price) First things first though Sunderland have gotta learn how to defend again otherwise they could end up setting a new record of the amount of goals conceded in the top flight in one season! Theres no Ham in Sam's sandwiches anymore! 

Now moving slightly back down South we check into our Scouse HQ and we find that they have replaced Brendan Rodgers with a chap from Germany who goes by the name of Jurgen... Hey Jurgen the German whats going on in Scouse land??  As much as we like Klopp the issue Liverpool and their fans are gonna have is that how can anyone take this bloke seriously? i mean stick a hat on him and he looks a bit like wheres wally? But honestly Liverpool you need to stop selling your best players!!! Rodgers isn't a bad manager and if things keep going bit wrong down at the Bridge he may end up landing a contract at Chelsea until the end of the season... Stranger things have happened just ask Wenger! 

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!

UCL Final - Juventus or Barcelona....

It's the one we've all been waiting for! 90 mins is a long time in the world of football.. especially if the match then goes into extra time! Theres a few golden oldies on show tonight, and rumour has it that 1 or 2 of them might not get another chance to ever play in a UCL final ever again!

It's already been confirmed that the iconic figure of Xavi will be making his final appearance for the Catalan giants. He is the most decorated player in the history of this beloved club, no one at Barcelona can rival his 24 trophies - (That figure could rise to 25 by the end of play tonight)

Another ageing icon is Andrea Pirlo! This Italian maverick looks anything but a footballer coming to the end of his career! With the younger legs of Pogba doing the running Pirlo has been able to slow the game down to his pace, although against an athletic bunch of Barca players 1 x Pogba might not be enough to allow Pirlo the space and time to pick out that killer ball!

The betting shop rumour which has been doing the rounds is that Andrea has been in talks with his mate Frank and Franks new buddies at NYC FC and has agreed to join the growing number of ageing players in the MLS for a mega pay day!

"Pirlo's packed his bags and is heading to the Big Apple for a season playing alongside Frank"

Hold that hobnob there! Put down that biscuit and take another swig of tea! We've not even mentioned the main man between the sticks! 

What can we say about Buffon that hasn't already been said?

How about the fact he likes to dunk custard creams (not hobnobs) an even number of times in his tea before he finally takes a bite!  #Buffon 

I've got a feeling tonights game is gonna go all the way to pen's and when it does Buffon is gonna be the man of the moment! Tonight is gonna be a Buffon night! 

The filth is in football again!

In any other walk of life this would make a quality movie, (NB: Movie to be made by Universal in 2020 about FIFA) the bald evil villain with the world at his mercy! The fact it's ruining the beautiful game means we all need to sit up and take note!

The term 'Blatter' has taken on a new meaning, hard to believe there could of been anymore to add to the ever growing term in the dictionary but after last weeks events the term could eventually take up a whole page in the next edition of the oxford version.

It's about time the powers behind the super clubs come out in force and unite against this evil man child!

May day blues....

It's May the 16th, the sun has disappeared behind a grey cloud and Steve Bruce, along with a number of other managers can be seen sat with a cup of tea and a pack of hob nobs - wondering what on earth has gone wrong this season? With the news that one of his best players has now been suspended (the white stuff) for the remaining two games, realistically Bruce and Hull must be odd's on favourites to go down!

This time last year Bruce had guided Hull to the FA Cup final, they were safe from relegation and everything was coming up roses... a few months are a long time in football!

Likewise for the comedy club down South... 2 months ago Spurs were in the form of their lives, looking forward to a domestic cup Final, add in a Europa League match against an Italian team full of Premiership rejects and after a convincing 2-1 win over their rivals were Spurs finally going to live up to all the hype they have had thrown at them... In short No!

Spurs are now 6th in the league, drifting through the final few weeks and it looks as if they don't want another season of Europa League distraction.. in short If Steve Bruce can get his Hull team playing against Spurs then they will leave the Lane with a 2-0 win (Dawson double maybe!)


Meanwhile across the capital  Chelsea can afford to take their foot off the gas as they have nothing left to play for, title's in the bag and their out of Europe, Will Jose give youth a chance in the final 2 games?

And finally in the Championship playoff last night, Boro have managed to get to the final after beating a spirited Brentford team, Fair play to Brentford they have been a breathe of fresh air this season, playing some amazing football along the way on a shoe string budget! The Chairman needs a rethink about letting his manager leave in the summer! In short sign him up for next season! Who knows they could be 12 months away from playing top flight football!

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 Weekender

Its been a while but we're back! The Weekender has been off on his travels, sampling some of the classic footballing derby across the UK! Sunday league football is on the rise and black boots have made a come back! It's like going back to the 70's!

With the season drawing to a close it looks like we're gonna have a few newbies joining us in the dizzy heights of the top tier next season - 'Arrys old-boys Bournemouth look nailed on for top flight. The seasons other surprise package Brentford are trying to get into the playoff places, spearheaded by a young loan player by the name of Pritchard - With the youngster gaining rave reviews along the way... A future Frank Lampard maybe?

Anyway thats enough rambling on for a Saturday morning, lets have a cuppa and a slice of toast and get down to business!


The Weekenders - Weekend cuppa

Now we've had some crazy results in the last few weeks and my footballing brain is telling me we're gonna have some more this week! But if you have a cheeky fiver to spare stick it on a high scoring draw at White Hart Lane, Tim's back in town and he has a point to prove against his old employers, his got his big men firing and the fact Spurs can't defend it has all the makings of a cracker!

We're going for a 4-4 Draw with Harry Kane to score a hat-trick!

Cult Hero

It's been a while but our cult hero section is back! With Super Gerry Francis making it into the hall of fame! QPR fans will remember that youthful look and even though he has aged since his playing days, his hair hasn't .... well it's gone grey but other than that the famous GF mullet is still going strong!

Tea Stories

A new feature for 2013, is tea stories, a lighter look at the latest headlines making the news! So with Rafa under more pressure than a Catholic priest stuck in a room full of school boys, Martin Tyler decided to ask AVB about the on-goings at his previous club!

The Midweeker

After his pie and mash session down the pub @ the weekend, the Midweeker returns with his 'midweek tips!'

Some interesting predictions, and some questionable tactics, but this man knows more than most about the beautiful game!

Cheeky £5 bet anyone?

Team GB

So with Team GB kicking off their campaign tonight, how will the lads get on? With some great young players on show, can they step up to the plate and go for gold? After a disappointing showing against Brazil @ the Riverside, one things for sure they can't do any worse! Giggs looked out of his depth against a young powerfull Brazilian side, and in my view his place should of gone to Joe Cole, Beckham was left out because Pearce felt he was no longer at the peak of his career, well the same goes for Giggs, regardless if he hasn't played @ a major tournament. With the women showing the way yesterday, lets hope the lads become inspired and put in a medal winning performance. The likes of Danny Rose, Sturridge, Cleverley, Caulker and Allen have played some outstanding club football over the past few years without really being given a chance in their countries national side. Now they come together as Team GB and the hope of the nation rest upon their shoulders! Can we win gold in the football for the first time in 100 years, 1912 was a long time ago, I mean Internet hadn't been invented let alone the iPad.

Footballing & money

Can the real footballer stand up please?

There's no doubt it football has grown into a sponsorship nightmare. Some people are more interested in what the players are wearing than how the team performs on the pitch. Today for example the F.A show cased the latest nike ball to be used for next season, who really cares? a balls a ball! it's what the players do with it that counts, like sticking it in the back of the net, or produce a world class save thats what people should be talking about! 

The media along with advertising campaigns have created a bubble which allows players to believe they walk on water, average players that 30 years ago wouldn't of even been picked to play sunday league find themselves on drinks bottles, or sandwich packs! Take Bendtner or Gomes for example. Some even find the need in tweeting pictures of themselves while on holiday in a 5 star resort, the kind of place no working man can afford to go to, "Cheers mate while i'm earning £10 per hour struggling for ends meat your out drinking champaign" yeah thanks for sharing that! they need to come back to the real world and be part of the living! 

I remember growing up, and players would live down the same road, eat at the same places and shop at local supermarkets! I mean even Gazza who was a superstar at the time, would think nothing more than popping to the local shops for a loaf of bread. Could you imaging Terry or Rooney doing that? 

As soon as the season ends, its who's leaving and who's handed in a transfer request, Sky almost invent rumours on a daily basis, after all they were to blame for 'Arry losing his job at Spurs, by banging on about the England job and how or why he is the next boss... we all know what happened there don't we! So what has happened to the one club player? with only a handful about it's a dying breed. Hat's off to Giggs, Scholes, King and co *RVP and Modric take note! 

So with all this money, hype and hysteria flying about now in the footballing world, how long will it be until we have time-outs or even extra time multi-ball? We may laugh about it, but the way things are going its closer than you think. Just ask Cardiff fans. They are now the famous blue birds that play in red!