The Philanderer
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Vote of Confidence
Footie fans across the Country have been gnashing their teeth with some degree of anguish, as a pre-Christmas merry-go-round of managerial changes have been taking place.Its quite strange though how the managers seem to come off best.
Take Ian Hollowords for example. He resigns from the Argyle, and joins Leicester allegedly for £400k per annum, almost doubling his salary. His wife and kids have just moved into a new house in Plymouth, and now have to leave for Leicester. Not ideal. He gets replaced by Paul Sturrock, who leaves Swindon where he has no money, and no prospects as they stumble from one failed takeover to another. There are no indications of his salary package yet but I suspect he will do better from it than previously.
The rumour mill indicates Steve Cotterill will take over at Swindon. He parted company with Burnley a few weeks ago, with an agreed compensation package, so has not been out of work long. Burnley replaced him with Owen Coyle from St Johnstone, North of the border and Derek Mcinnes has replaced Coyle, a promotion from within the ranks.......
So, all the fans have been frustrated, but the managers seem to have sorted themselves pretty well.
A similar situation is occurring in the Premiership. Wigan part company with Hutchings, who took over when Paul Jewell left the club. Steve Bruce has now left Birmingham to take up the reins. Birmingham have acquired the ex-Scotland boss, Alex McLeish, and Billy Davies, sacked from Derby, indicates he would quite like the Scotland managers job. Meanwhile the aforementioned Paul Jewell steps smoothly into the Derby hot seat, and everybody is rockin' and rollin'.
All we have to do now is fill the England job, but wait a moment Rafael Benitez will get the sack tonight if Liverpool lose in the European Champions League, and the roundabout can start all over again.
Take Ian Hollowords for example. He resigns from the Argyle, and joins Leicester allegedly for £400k per annum, almost doubling his salary. His wife and kids have just moved into a new house in Plymouth, and now have to leave for Leicester. Not ideal. He gets replaced by Paul Sturrock, who leaves Swindon where he has no money, and no prospects as they stumble from one failed takeover to another. There are no indications of his salary package yet but I suspect he will do better from it than previously.
The rumour mill indicates Steve Cotterill will take over at Swindon. He parted company with Burnley a few weeks ago, with an agreed compensation package, so has not been out of work long. Burnley replaced him with Owen Coyle from St Johnstone, North of the border and Derek Mcinnes has replaced Coyle, a promotion from within the ranks.......
So, all the fans have been frustrated, but the managers seem to have sorted themselves pretty well.
A similar situation is occurring in the Premiership. Wigan part company with Hutchings, who took over when Paul Jewell left the club. Steve Bruce has now left Birmingham to take up the reins. Birmingham have acquired the ex-Scotland boss, Alex McLeish, and Billy Davies, sacked from Derby, indicates he would quite like the Scotland managers job. Meanwhile the aforementioned Paul Jewell steps smoothly into the Derby hot seat, and everybody is rockin' and rollin'.
All we have to do now is fill the England job, but wait a moment Rafael Benitez will get the sack tonight if Liverpool lose in the European Champions League, and the roundabout can start all over again.
Labels: derby, england, plymouth, scotland, st johnstone, sturrock, swindon, wigan
¶ 2:30 PM 0 Comments
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh stayin' alive
I have been ridiculed about my clothes sense before. Farah slacks were banned by the kids some years ago, and I have had dated round collared shirts flushed down the toilet by well meaning house mates. I still keep a pair of loons in the wardrobe hoping one day to be able to do the waist up, and all my 'interesting' designer stuff is now reserved for the golf course.
At the moment its the latter, and I am hours away from owning a white linen suit for goodness sake. As if that is not bad enough, my cousin is skinnier than me, so it won't even fit!!
All this could be put seriously in the shade now as a result of some action my cousin Mike has asked me to take. He has suggested I might like to help him bid up his items on e-bay. Its a common practice. you put the item on for 99p to keep the listing charges to a minimum, then get a chum to bid up to somewhere near your target price. Sometimes it works, sometimes it backfires.
At the moment its the latter, and I am hours away from owning a white linen suit for goodness sake. As if that is not bad enough, my cousin is skinnier than me, so it won't even fit!!
Now the lad who walks round Twickenham before England international matches wears a white suit so maybe he can make use of it, but he may have to look to change his outfit to blend in with the ridiculous new kit which the rugby team have just appeared in.
For the last World Cup England launched the lycra tight rugby shirt which may look fine on Kieran Bracken and Josh Lewsey, but it does nothing for the fuller figure, which many rugby fans possess. The 'Old Farts' produced a traditional cotton variant to overcome this marketing gaff, but how they will recover this situation I dread to think.
I suspect even the Orange Order, or a girls majorette troupe would be embarrassed to wear this new kit, the players do look like they have just participated in Mr Rugby 2007 and forgotten to take their sashes off. Come on RFU sort it out.
Labels: e-Bay, england, farah, twickenham, white linen suit
¶ 1:31 PM 0 Comments
Friday, June 1, 2007
"I think you've had enough old son......."
I am off to Wembley tonight for the England v Brazil game, and this, together with some incidents over the weekend, got me thinking about why football followers seem to be so much more aggressive than those of other sports.
At the family barbecue I referred to, there were a mixture of young people. Some from Liverpool had gone to school with Kieran at St Mary's, a Christian Brothers school, some who had gone to Merchant Taylors, next door . Others where at Uni (or Poly ;-)) in Liverpool and had come from other parts of the country, and some were work colleagues of Kieran from the Wirral and around. They all mixed extremely well, and people commented on how well mannered they were.
One poor girl had had a hell of a few weeks with boyfriend problems, and she got absolutely trashed. Rather than leave her to fall about the furnishings and smash the ornaments, two of her flat mates took her home, put her to bed and returned later to the party.
Sometime after that one of the St Mary's lads got some abuse from another of the boys there, and the St Mary's lads closed ranks and suggested to one of the rogues friends that it was time he helped him home, which he did. This passed off unnoticed by most people at the party.
It reminded me of my own experiences as an 'old fart' who regularly attends rugby internationals at Twickenham, in Dublin and in Paris. There are usually six of us, and we do like a drink. It is fair to say though, that in the 25 years we have been acting the fool, we have at worst made bus travel between Twickenham and Richmond noisy, and the ride out of Dublin on the Dart a joyous singing occasion. Any activity likely to provoke violence, either physical or verbal, is quickly stamped on by the group, and the offender parked in a corner and told to behave.
Why then is it not the case at football matches that there is not this same self policing? The tribal nature of the supporters seems to add an 'edge' to the whole atmosphere. It can't be associated purely with the Public school, grammar school, secondary school differential outlined yesterday, as many of the perpetrators are from good stock?
Personally I blame the lager, as we all know London Pride has no alcohol in it!!!
At the family barbecue I referred to, there were a mixture of young people. Some from Liverpool had gone to school with Kieran at St Mary's, a Christian Brothers school, some who had gone to Merchant Taylors, next door . Others where at Uni (or Poly ;-)) in Liverpool and had come from other parts of the country, and some were work colleagues of Kieran from the Wirral and around. They all mixed extremely well, and people commented on how well mannered they were.
One poor girl had had a hell of a few weeks with boyfriend problems, and she got absolutely trashed. Rather than leave her to fall about the furnishings and smash the ornaments, two of her flat mates took her home, put her to bed and returned later to the party.
Sometime after that one of the St Mary's lads got some abuse from another of the boys there, and the St Mary's lads closed ranks and suggested to one of the rogues friends that it was time he helped him home, which he did. This passed off unnoticed by most people at the party.
It reminded me of my own experiences as an 'old fart' who regularly attends rugby internationals at Twickenham, in Dublin and in Paris. There are usually six of us, and we do like a drink. It is fair to say though, that in the 25 years we have been acting the fool, we have at worst made bus travel between Twickenham and Richmond noisy, and the ride out of Dublin on the Dart a joyous singing occasion. Any activity likely to provoke violence, either physical or verbal, is quickly stamped on by the group, and the offender parked in a corner and told to behave.
Why then is it not the case at football matches that there is not this same self policing? The tribal nature of the supporters seems to add an 'edge' to the whole atmosphere. It can't be associated purely with the Public school, grammar school, secondary school differential outlined yesterday, as many of the perpetrators are from good stock?
Personally I blame the lager, as we all know London Pride has no alcohol in it!!!
Labels: brazil, Dublin, england, London Pride, merchant taylors, Paris, Richmond, St Mary's College, The dart, twickenham, wembley, Wirral
¶ 2:32 PM 0 Comments
