Norman Ralph

In their first season in the top flight of English football since they were relegated from the First Division in 1971 and their first season ever in the Premier League, Blackpool got off to a dream start! Pre-season favourites for relegation, they went out at the DW Stadium and took on Wigan, winning by four goals to nil.

Blackpool after the 2009-2010 Coca-cola Championship play-off final

After qualifying for the Premier League with a victory over Cardiff City in the Coca-Cola Championship play-off final, Blackpool have been made everyone’s favourites to go down this season. I have to admit that I think the season is going to be long and hard and we will be on the receiving end of some drubbings. However, from yesterday’s performance it is clear that Blackpool are going to try and play their brand of attractive football and I am sure that there will be some surprises on the way.

Come on the ‘Pool!

The Fire have had a tough couple of months, failing to win in May and struggling in June as well. The team played in the Sister Cities Cup,a friendly tournament between Chicago Fire, Red Star Belgrade, Legia Warsaw and Paris St. Germain. Fire lost in the semi-final to PSG and then lost the 3rd place play-off against Legia Warsaw. Belgrade went on to win 7-6 on penalties in the final. The team also failed to win in the MLS during May and suffered a 1-0 defeat to AC Milan in a friendly.

The team broke its bad run by beating New England Revolution 1-0 on the 27th June. Chicago have only lost two of their games this season but have been guilty of drawing too many (six in total now).

Team USA didn’t take any Chicago players to South Africa for the World Cup so hopefully the team will benefit from having a full squad to choose from for the rest of July with some big games coming up, including the start of the SupaLiga.

It seems that my hard work at O2 over the last year and a bit is about to pay off. I mean this in the purely literal sense as it is bonus time at work. I managed to get an excellent apraisal and I am in line to receive a pretty sizable lump sum! I have decided that this shall be put towards building a relatively starter style home entertainment system. I am new to the whole thing and I have a really small house so I have not gone for anything too flash and a couple of items are still up for discussion – namely whether I sghould get separate games console and Blu-Ray player or plump for the PS3. A lot of articles and pundits have repeatedly opted for the PS3 as the idea source for a low-end system but I still have my reservations about its ability as a console. I will be looking to upgrade they system with a larger TV (ideally full HD) when I have a bigger living room. I fancy adding a full HD projector at some point for those move and sports nights I envisage

Layout

The full list is as follows:

TV: Samsung LE32B450C4
AV Receiver: Onkyo TX-SR507
Sources: Samsung BD-P1600, Sky+HD, Xbox 360 Elite, Custom built Media PC
Speakers: Tannoy SFX5.1

I watched the Calcutta Cup (the annual rugby union test match between England and Scotland) and was once again embarrassed to be English. The performance put in by the lads was horrendous and offended me on more levels than I care to admit. There was no passion, no desire and most disappointingly they didn’t seem to have a clue what they were doing. I am fairly sure that my school’s First XV would have been able to put up a greater fight and probably performed better too. Scotland were outstanding, they played with heart and passion and deserved their win, more than that though, they earned their win. Having witnessed England’s performance against France the other week and having watched them grind out their victory I was astonished by the team that turned up on Saturday!

There was much discussion before the game about Danny Cipriani’s removal from the squad (Brian Ashton – the coach – dropped him after he was discovered in a nightclub late on Thursday night) but that doesn’t even begin to explain the bad performance. Wilkinson, although accurate with the boot from penalty kicks, looked like he hadn’t played No. 10 ever before! His kicking from hand was atrocious. It was a bad day weather wise, so it was no surprise that it was a scrappy game, but England had no idea what they were doing. Vainikolo carried well, but he needed the ball on the wing, not in midfield. Wigglesworth played well at the base of the ruck but was too often shoved out the way by the ‘senior’ forwards. he needs to demand more respect from the pack. He was also too often isolated by the Jonny wandering off and switching off. I have never seen Jonny play so badly. He doesn’t deserve the jersey against Ireland next week. In fact, if I had my way the entire team should be dropped with perhaps the exceptions of Wigglesworth – who played well – Paul Sackey and Lesley Vainikolo. My ratings for the players are below.

1 Andrew Sheridan 5
– scrummaged well but gave away too many penalties in open play
2 Lee Mears 4
– too often caught in open play, looked like he didn’t want to be on the field
3 Phil Vickery 7
– too quiet as Captain but played well otherwise
4 Simon Shaw 6
– usually a strong ball carrier but seemed to have left his hands at home, jumped well at lineout
5 Steve Borthwick 5
– good in the lineout and scrum, but didn’t carry the ball enough in the loose
6 Tom Croft 3
– not a good start, he is not a blindside flanker
7 Michael Lipman 7
– good in the loose, got to breakdowns quickly, one of the only decent performances from the pack
8 Nick Easter 6
– quiet game for the big number 8, still not convinced he shouldn’t be playing at blind side

9 Richard Wigglesworth 7
– a good game, needs to take charge of his pack to be at his best
10 Jonny Wilkinson 3
– an awful game, his kicking from hand was atrocious, he should be dropped
11 Lesley Vainikolo 6
– rarely touched the ball, needs to sort out his handling to keep his place
12 Toby Flood 6
– not a bad game, but doesn’t seem to have any spark or flair
13 Jamie Noon 5
– defensively strong, but offered nothing in attack
14 Paul Sackey 8
– a strong performance in both attack and defence, looks like the only sure bet for Ireland
15 Iain Balshaw 7
– turned up, which is a start, took the high balls well and did enough, will probably play against Ireland

AMF Bowling in Leeds city centre was the venue of the first circle event in a while. Maths Chris organised it fairly last minute but it was still a pretty good turn-out. I think there were ten of us down there by the end. I didn’t bowl becasue if my ankle and Worfolk turned up a bit late but all in all it was a really good night. Si summed it uo best by reminding us all that we weren’t there for the bowling really, it was just a side show.

Thanks to Maths Chris for putting it all together and thanks to everyone who made the effort to come, reminded us that we do have a pretty decent set of friends here in sunny (or windy and rainy) Leeds.

Once again the England football team has thrown away a lead and commanding performance in the space of a few minutes. This week it was against the Russians in Moscow. 1-0 up at half time after a Waybe Rooney screamer I thought we would be ok, our qualification to the next European Championships to be held next year in Austria and Switzerland. I was wrong. A leopard cannot change his spots. They sat back and thought that one goal was enough. It happens every time they score – as if they are so shocked about scoring that they don’t know what to do with it. In the end Russia put two goals past a hapless Paul Robinson in the England goal.

Awful!

The England football team have just completed back to back victoires in the Euro 2008 qualifying stage. They put three goals past a rather hopeless Israel at Wembley then the same team (first time over two years that an England coach has named an unchanged starting XI in consecutive fixtures) have just beaten a good looking Russian side by the same scoreline.

Overall England definitely deserved the six points and played really well considering that many pundits claim that the majority of players in the two ames wouldn’t normally make the England team. Two players stood out for me over the 180 minutes, namely Emile Heskey and Steven Gerrard. Stevie Gerrard is arguably the single most talented footballer in the world. He has, however, never really reached his full potential. This is mainly die to the fact he can play anywhere on the park and rarely plays his best position – that of an attacking central midfielder – and due to the fact that his usual partner in midfield, Frank Lampard, is too similar in style so they tend to cancel each other out. The last two games (whilst playing with a broken toe) we have seen him at his very best. We saw his energy and commitment alongside his leadership and passion for the beautiful game. Emile Heskey, much maligned over recent years, is the perfect foil for Michael Owen who is getting back to his very best for England and Newcastle.

I am really looking forward to the selection for the next qualifier against Estonia and the return leg to Russia in October. it is not foten I get to say this but..

GO ENGLAND!

What an amazing weekend!

I attended my last festival of the summer this weekend – Solfest, on the Solway coast up in in Cumbria. It was a really good weekend, it was the ideal combination of good company, good music and brilliant atmosphere. I headed over to Kirkham on Wednesday after dropping Liz off in Potterhanworth so that I could do some of my to-do list before heading up to Solfest on the Friday. Due to traffic and general slowness on my part I didn’t actually get home until tea time, so didn’t really get much done. Ended up watching the England game then heading to bed.

On Thursday I set about my to-do list with some vigour. I managed to clean the car inside and out, pick up some replacement parts for the car and fit them and generally check to see how much work I am going to have to do to get the car through its MOT. I also managed to get all my washing and drying done ready for me to pack for Solfest. I managed to get it all done just in time to pick Michelle up from preston train station as she was flying voer from Jersey specially for the weekend. In the end, the train was about two hours late and I was sat on the platform for most of it. It was boring! Michelle arrived eventually (about 1am) and we headed for home and pretty much went straight to bed as we were leaving at nine the next morning!

The trip up to Solfest was generally uneventful, the roads were quite quiet seeing as it was the start of the Bank Holiday weekend though it did start to get busier throughout the day. We arrived at Sarann’s Dad’s house, with who we were staying for the weekend, at about lunchtime. We ate then headed out to Allonby to eat ice cream and walk on the beach. We had met up with Matt by this time too (Kat was also about, but was stewarding at the festival). We hit the festival about five o’clock.

One of the big surprises for me was how full the festival felt. Solfest is a relatively small, family orientated festival with about 5000 ticket holders and about 2000 stewards etc. The festival site itself wasn’t tiny yet the place felt full without being overcrowded. The next big surprise came when checking the programme for the weekend and discovering that Ben’s Brother were booked to play on the Bar Stage – the smallest venue at the festival. This surprised me as Ben’s Brother are currently enjoying quite a high level of chart and radio success and are tipped to headline some of the major summer festivals next year such as Leeds/Reading and V. I dawned on me that their debut album has only very recently been released and they must have been booked for the festival many months ago. I had to see them seeing as it was likely the last time they would be playing such an intimate venue!

They were well worth the entry fee to the festival alone. Sometimes I am disappointed by bands like Ben’s Brother when they play live but this was not the case. In many ways I preferred their live set to their album – which it must be said is a really good album, one I would recommend to anyone – as they managed to really get the audience going with their mix of classic indie guitar riffs and soulful singing. We caught a few other bands on the Friday night including the everpresent festival band that is Ozric’s Tentacles (well worth catching if you can).

Saturday was always going to be a highlight for me – Badly Drawn Boy, The Undertones and Chumbawumba all had slots on the mainstage with the former bands headlining! What a combination – Badly Drawn Boy followed by The Undertones. You would not see it anywhere else! The amazing acoustic sounds of Silent Sigh followed by Teenage Kicks!! It was an amazing night. One of the best evenings of live entertainment in my life!

Sunday was not an obvious highlight for me musicwise. There was pretty much only one band I was bothered about and that was the final act of the festival on the main stage – the everpresent Levellers. However, Solfest had one last surprise for me and it went by the name of Show of Hands. Show of Hands are an English folk group that plays a combination of traditional folk, sea shanties and rock music. They were stunning. I actually watched their set mesmerised by them. I am going to stick my neck out and say I don’t think anything has ever moved me quite so much as their music. I loved every second of their set and could have listened to them all night.

All in all it wa sa massively successful festival and I would like to extend some thank yous. Firstly, I would like to thank everyone involved with Solfest for putting on such a warm and friendly festival. Secondly I would like to thank Michelle, Kat, Matt, Ciara, Toni and Caitlin for helping make the weekend a massive success by being cool festival buddies. A special thanks to Sarann for insisting we went and making sure we all had an amazing time and a massive thanks to Sarann’s Dad for putting up with a house full of students for four days, for feeding us and for generally providing for our every whim!

I recommend this festival to all. I literally cannot wait for next year’s tickets to go on sale!!

That time of year again! The new football season is just around the corner and this weekend saw the opening game of the season, the FA Community Shield, between Manchester United and Chelsea. As usual, it was a bit of a disappointment with neither team really getting going. There was the odd bit of brilliance, the odd flash of inspiration, but nothing to really set the game ablaze. Nani was disappointing for Man Utd and Pizarro looks like he might not last the pace at Chelsea though Malouda (signed for £13.5million from French champions, Lyon) looked sharp for the London side, other than that it was a fairly tame affair. Roll on the title chase.

On the face of the game, Manchester probably deserved their penalty win but in all honesty it could have gone either way.

Blackpool 2 – Yeovil 0

That insignificant looking scoreline made yesterday into a great day in the seaside resort of Blackpool’s history. Their football team is playing in the top two flights of English football for the first time in thrity years. Yesterday afternoon’s League One Play-off Final at Wembly was a great game. Blackpool played the best football, they passed and moved and generally played at a Championship level, their footalling home for the next season at least, Kiegan Parker’s second goal being absolutely sublime – curling it round most of the Yeovil defence and goalkeeper from twenty-five yards!

Following the conclusion to the football game, Liz and I hopped on the 95 up to Woodies to meet Chris Clarke and do a mini Otley Run. Playing “no repeats” rules, we made our way through Three Horsehoes and New Inn. Due to the fact there were three of us we decided to give Arcadia a whirl, it is a small Wine and Ale bar just next to Somerfield in Headingley. We were so impressed with it we stayed for two drinks!

The Arc and Sky Rack were absolutely heaving, so after a swift drink in Headingley Taps, the Box and Original Oak we jumped on the bus and headed to Hyde Park Corner. We were planning to keep going on the Run, but having done some negotiating we headed up to Izzy’s to help her celebrate her 22nd birthday.

There was a house full of people when we got there, a mixture of Leeds and Kirkham folk. Inf act it was a remarkable turn out. After a Dutch courage drink, I decided it was time to bury the hatchet with Izzy. I hope I got my message across, the right mixture of apology, sincerity and humility yet maintaining enough dignity for the apology to carry some weight. I cannot be sure of the outcome of what we talked about, I think we decided not to dwell on it there and then as it was the middle of a party. We did, however, get an invite to the after party in town. Unfortunately, the afternoon’s excitement had taken its toll on Liz so I had to take her home.