31st August 2005 - 23:46 BST
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So the Football Transfer Window is about to slam shut for the summer in 40 minutes time (as I type this) and for the first time in many seasons Leeds have actually come off rather well! OK, they lost Aaron Lennon due to wage issues and Eirik Bakke has gone on loan to Aston Villa until January (although if they want to pay his extortionate wages then they’re welcome to him). Other names such as Julian Joachim, Clarke Carlisle, etc have gone but with all the new signings over the summer they would struggle to get a place in the new, improved Leeds United First Team anyway.
I can't see Leeds missing Joachim the striker who score 2 goals last season
Away from Leeds probably the most major signing of the summer (if you forget about Chelsea’s regular shopping spree) is Michael Owen’s surprise move from Real Madrid to Premiership strugglers Newcastle United.
Newcastle have been chasing Owen for some time and if I am perfectly honest I didn’t think he would go to Tyneside and thought something fishy was going on. I believed the chairman who is by far a fans favourite was making the bid as an exercise to win fans over although had no real plans of making the signing. Obviously I was wrong although the fans did make me laugh today. Sunday, after losing 2-0 to Manchester United they were chanting “Sack the board” now they are singing the chairman’s praises – the word “fickle” comes to mind.
Owen looks over the moon to be playing for a club 19th in the league
Lastly everyone keeps saying how Owen is a “Proven” 20 Goal A Season Striker. Wrong! Owen has never scored 20 LEAGUE goals for either Liverpool or Real Madrid so I don’t know where that statistic has come from. Don’t get me wrong I rate Owen. He is one of the best English strikers playing today and Newcastle have a star player but the £17mill they paid for him is far too much in my opinion. Still, as an England fan I wish him well and hope he can improve his skills and fitness even more ahead of The World Cup next year.
29th August 2005 - 21:34 BST
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It’s been a good Bank Holiday Weekend. Firstly as I mentioned the other day, Super Leeds United beat Norwich City 1-0 and England’s cricket team beat The Aussie’s to go 2-1 up in the series.
I also managed to watch all three Star Wars prequels (Phantom Menance, Attack of the Clones and went to see Revenge of the Sith). All the reviews were right, Phantom Menace was rubbish and Jar Jar Binks was very annoying, he reminded me so much of Vanessa from Big Brother. Attack of the Clones was good but the latest Star Wars movie Revenge of the Sith was by far my favourite of the three. The transformation of Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vadar across the movie was excellent.
I’ve also been watching the highly acclaimed television series Lost. I did start watching this last year but for some reason never got into it. I’m watching the Region 1 DVD at the moment and am up to episode 8 (so ahead of Channel 4 viewers now) and am really enjoying it (I’m off to start DVD#3 after this blog entry).
The weather’s been great this weekend as well so I didn’t spend the whole time inside watching DVDs. Saturday night I had a barbecue, quite possibly the last one of 2005.
Most of today was spent outside enjoying the sunshine while listening to the Ten Hour Takeover on BBC Radio 1. I did enjoy this, across the day listeners texted in their requests and they were then played… well supposedly. I requested Timmy Mallets version of “Itsy-Bitsy Teeny-Weeny Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini” and the Leeds United song “Marching on Together”. Neither got played! Still the variety of music across the day was interesting to say the least, my favourite track of the day being an extended version of the theme tune to children’s TV show Dogtanian :o)
27th August 2005 - 18:38 BST
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It’s been another win for Leeds today against another top team and another clean sheet beating Norwich City 1-0 in their own backyard.
The quality in performance from the Leeds players easily equalised that of the former Premiership team but went one step further by putting the goal in the back of the net and grabbing all 3 points.
Delia's 12th man wasn't with her today
For the first time in a long time it feels very good to be a Leeds fan. Hopefully it’s not too pre-mature but I am feeling optimistic for this season and strongly believe The Whites can win promotion to The Premiership.
To make things better this weekend England are doing well against The Aussies. Hopefully they can win this test, then the Ashes and send The Aussie Convicts back down under all upset.
As Delia Smith famously said – “Let’s be ‘avin you! C’mon!!!”
25th August 2005 - 18:22 BST
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Brainaic returns to Sky One this evening for a brand new series. The light hearted, exciting science show is presented by Top Gear’s Richard Hammond who is accompanied by Dr. Bunhead, John Tickle from Big Brother 4 and a group of other Brainiac “scientists”.
This series promises to show us at what temperature a sausage on a barbecue will burst into flames, what kind of child needs the strongest sunscreen, how many people you can fit into a caravan and if it is possible to walk in a tub of golden syrup. All issues man has wondered for hundreds of years but has never found out – until now. With shows like Brainiac to educate students it is no wonder GCSE grades are improving.
Brainiac is on Sky One this evening at 8pm.
24th August 2005 - 20:23 BST
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The England cricket team start their fourth Ashes match of the series tomorrow against Australia. I’m not really a cricket fan but like millions of other Brits have been drawn into supporting our national team across the summer tournament.
It’ll be tough but hopefully England can do it, the crowd will certainly help. So for the crowd tomorrow and the fans staying at home to watch the match here are some football style chants to sing (all in fun of course)….
Jason Gillespie. He may be a Australian international but he looks like a tramp. In the true football fan tradition feel free to taunt him with Gypo! Gypo! Gypo!
Australia will be good but if their game does slip you can remind them how crap they are by singing
Are you Zimbabwe?
Are you Zimbabwe?
Are you Zimbabwe in disguise?
Are you Zimbabwe in disguise?
Shane Warne, great player but since returning from a drugs ban he has lost a little pace and is getting old and fat, tell him so and remind him of this drug taking past….
Who ate all the pies?
Who ate all the pies?
You fat bastard!
You fat bastard
You are all the pies!
Shane Warne couldn’t play West Indies because he got high,
He couldn’t play Bangladesh because he got high,
He was left at home for The World Cup and I know why,
Because he got high,
Because he got high,
Because he got high,
We all know the Aussie’s originated from British convicts don’t we….
You’re going home on a criminal ship!
You’re going home on a criminal ship!
In football when the referee makes a bad decision the crowd let him know. Umpires are normally better but if they mess up let them know….
76 for 2 to the umpire
76 for 2 to the umpire
76 for 2 to the umpire….
Good luck England!
23rd August 2005 - 23:09 BST
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That’ll do lads, two more goals, three clean sheets.
Marching up together up the football league and in the cup.
23rd August 2005 - 17:59 BST
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Leeds United and every other Football League club (apart from Southend and Southampton who played yesterday) will start their Carling Cup campaign this evening.
Leeds will face League One side Oldham Athletic at Elland Road. Leeds are the favourites and will probably win the game although nothing can be taken for granted in cup competitions.
The last three seasons have seen Leeds progress to the third round of the competition so it would be nice to see a better cup run this year especially with the new players at the club.
The opening few games haven’t always been the best quality football either. I was at the Huddersfield game last August and although Leeds won 1-0 it was a dire game.
Memories of losing to Sheffield United, losing to the Man Utd reserves and having to rely upon a last minute equalising goal from goalkeeper Paul Robinson to beat Swindon Town are all best forgotten about (although Robbo’s equaliser was a true magic moment).
Still, onwards and upwards, Marching on Together. We can win tonight. C’mon Leeds!
22nd August 2005 - 20:21 BST
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I have no idea what is going on at Leeds United at the moment. I got back from work this evening to learn that they have just signed Richard Cresswell from Preston North End for £1.15million. This is in the same summer as spending big money on Rob Hulse, Robbie Blake & Daniel Harding as well as bringing in Ian Bennett, Rui Manuel Marques, Steve Stone and Eddie Lewis as freebies and Jonathan Douglas on a season long loan.
Premiership, here we come!
Where on earth are they getting the money from? Not only to make these singings but to pay the players? It is only 7 months ago that Leeds were under the old board and with massive debts about to go out of business all together, now we are behaving like the Chelsea of the Championship!
There have been rumours circulating that quality striker David Healy will be sold as something has gone on behind closed doors leaving the Northern Ireland International unhappy. Leeds manager Kevin Blackwell has denied this and today said that Healy would be staying. Although I have heard statements like that in the past which have turned out to be lies I tend to believe the manager this time.
Cresswell is a quality striker, he banged in 16 league goals for Preston last season and was a massive part of them reaching The Championship Play Off Final. Hopefully he will do wonders for Leeds as well.
Blackwell seems to like playing a burly striker (like Hulse or Ricketts) alongside a small, fast paced striker (like Healy or Blake). Cresswell is a strong, well built striker so should fit in well, maybe it’ll spell the end of Ricketts’ Leeds career. If any of the Leeds strikers are to leave I would certainly favour Ricketts (actually Ian Moore but I dunno what’s happened to him at the moment).
Hopefully Cresswell will prove a brilliant signing and maybe with this mysterious, new found wealth Leeds fans should start singing the Chelsea favourite
WE'RE FUCKING LOADED NAHAHAHANANAHANAHA
WE'RE FUCKING LOADED NAHAHAHANANAHANAHA
21st August 2005 - 22:05 BST
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I went karting in Bristol today for a friend’s birthday, tremendous fun! I have no experience of driving karts before and very little skill of driving an actual car (besides a few lessons around a car park on a quite Sunday afternoon) but that wasn’t a problem – apart from crashing into a few fellow drivers and tyre barriers!
Apologies for the crappy picture, I only had my mobile camera!
Speeding along the track at 40mph+ is a great experience, 40mph may seem pretty slow compared to road travel about but when your in the small kart with no walls, no roof and just inches above the track it is bloody fast!
I went along with a group of seven, six of whom were racing although there were 28 drivers in total as we completed in practice sessions, heats and a semi final, there was a grand final but neither my friends nor I got that far!
Overall I didn’t do brilliantly, I think out of the 28 taking part only 5 finished behind me although in my defence it was my first ever experience of karting and it seemed many of the other contestants took part on a regular basis. I also think people who drive and even ride bikes for sport had a far greater advantage. Over the sessions I did improve so next time I try hopefully I’ll earn a far more respectable finish. Those are my excuses and I’m sticking to them :o)
20th August 2005 - 20:51 BST
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Here we go with Leeds United, we're gonna give the boys a hand,
Stand up and sing for Leeds United they are the greatest is the land,
Everyday we're all gonna say we love you Leeds, Leeds, Leeds,
Everywhere we're gonna be there we love you Leeds, Leeds, Leeds,
Marching on together, we're gonna see you win,
We are so proud, we shout it out loud,
We love you... Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!
Isn’t football a funny old game? When your team wins your in a great mood for days after the game and if your team loses you enter a taste of depression and wander around like Frank Butcher for a week.
Luckily I will not be doing my Mike Reid impression this week as Super Leeds beat Wolves 2-0 this afternoon, what’s great is that Wolves are real promotion challengers and until today unbeaten in a massive 21 league games. Another good reason is than Glenn Hoddle is a twat and doing one over him is always good.
Glenn Nice But Dim
New American signing Eddie Lewis, who by all accounts had a great game got an early goal for United who then sat back for the rest of the half while Wanderers totally dominated. The same continued into the second half until Rob Hulse grabbed a second goal for Leeds. The Whites then took full control of the game, taking 3 points and moving to 5th place in the league.
Thursday and Friday I watched the other two films in the Star Wars Trilogy. Must admit, like with A New Hope they were thoroughly enjoyable and I understand why so many people love the movies (although I still don’t get the fanatics). Ordered myself Episodes I & II as I think its only fitting I see the prequels. I thought Harrison Ford was excellent as Hans Solo and has really encouraged me to dig out the old Indiana Jones boxset to watch another classic trilogy.
I’m off karting tomorrow afternoon in Bristol for a friends birthday, should be good fun although I have never done it before! Then Monday I’ll be back to work after my two week break. Still not to worry, Bank Holiday weekend the following week and best of all the football season is back! Get in!
18th August 2005 - 08:57 BST
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It’s the morning after that terrible game of football, I was laughing at it then, mainly with embarrassment but this morning my feelings have changed to anger. Anger towards the team and anger towards Sven Goran Eriksson.
The players England have are good enough to beat anybody and win The World Cup but they will never get past the Quarter Finals of the competition under Sven.
Firstly, I’ve said it before and sadly I’ll probably have to say it again, David James should NEVER play for England again although for some bizarre reason Sven keeps picking the inept keeper.
There is also the issue on captaincy, this was given to David Beckham some years ago when he was very good. He is getting on a bit now and it is time for him to hand the Captains Armband over to another player. This should be given to either John Terry who captains English Champions Chelsea or Steven Gerrard who’s captaincy skills turned Liverpool from 3-0 down against AC Milan in The Champions League Final to winning the competition. If England were 3-0 down against a world class team we would NEVER get back to win under Beckham and Sven!
What is Sven’s idea when it comes to substitutions? Michael Owen cannot play the next competitive game for England as he is suspended, Jermain Defoe is set to take his place, why is it then that Sven saw it wise to take Defoe off at half time to replace him with Owen?
Sven shows absolutely no emotion towards the players, during the post-match interview he looked shocked and embarrassed. He claimed he was angry, but what he showed was not anger. You can tell when a football manager has been yelling and kicking boots about in the dressing room at useless players. Sven had not been doing that. We need a manager with a backbone and balls and whatever Ulrika Jonsson may say, Sven hasn’t got any. Still, at least he gets his massive wage packet from The FA, that's all that matters hey Sven?
See Sven, this is a manager who's SHOUTING at his players!
Sven has no “Plan B” for the team, he picks the players he likes regardless of their form and if one of them is sent off, injured everything collapses as he doesn’t know what to do,
While the whole team was dire (with the exception of Wayne Rooney) and they should all hang their heads in shame Sven is the man who has to take most of the blame. I have never felt confident with him as manager and the English national team is underachieving thanks to this Swede. Last night was the final straw to break the camels back and Sven should be handed his P45.
Some possible replacements for Sven
Sam Allardyce – everyone’s favourite, done wonders for Bolton - ENGLISH
Alan Curbishley – Charlton manager, has done a lot for his team – ENGLISH
and someone who hasn’t been suggested before, he may not be made available now but once he has won everything with his current club he may want to move on to managing a national team…. Jose Mourinho – he would be great!
If we can’t get any of these there’s always Kevin Blackwell, rubbish manager but at least we’ll have rid of him at Leeds!
17th August 2005 - 21:47 BST
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I had the misfortune of watching the second half of the England – Denmark game this evening where the National Team lost 4-1 in a dire 45 minutes of football which made Leeds look like Brazil.
The whole team are to blame, including everyone’s favourite David “Calamity” James who came right out of his box to aid Denmark in grabbing their first goal. All in all it was a shambles, laughable, yes LAUGHABLE, luckily it was a friendly so you can laugh at it but the players must in no way play like this against Wales next month. I have created a montage of the Denmark goals for your amusement here.
On a serious note, yes I can laugh BUT the England players should hang their heads in shame. It is an honour to represent your country and wear the shirt, anyone wearing it should always give 110% and they should all be ashamed of themselves.
5,000+ fans travelled to Denmark to watch England, spending their hard earned cash on their beloved team, I would like to see these players on £50k+ a week refund the fans their ticket and travel expenses, after all they can afford it.
Moving on from football, I did something today that I thought I would never ever do…. I bought something…. a DVD…. Star Wars. Years ago I saw the first half hour or so of the original movie when someone lent me the trilogy on VHS, I don’t normally like films in space and am not a massive Sci-Fi fan so was not that enthralled. However I do like movies in general so thought it was about time I bought the DVD Boxset, especially as it meant I would be able to buy Scrubs Season 1 for half price :o)
I won't be attending any conventions just yet
Anyway, I watched Star Wars: A New Hope (the original) this afternoon and I DID like it, good film although I still fail to see how it has a massive cult following, I suppose I haven’t seen the other movies or grown up with the movies. Don’t worry, I’m not going to become a Star Wars Geek.
16th August 2005 - 09:33 BST
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Watched Wedding Crashers last night and was left slightly disappointed to be perfectly honest. The reviews and TV ads promise a hilarious, laugh a minute comedy. Sure the film had its amusing moments but some of the jokes were feeble and the storyline a little too “luvy duvy”
The film stars Owen Wilson (Meet the Parents/Fockers, Life Aquatic) and Vince Vaghn (Dodgeball, Anchorman) as a pair of wedding crashers who crash celebrations in search of women, free drink and a good time.
In typical Romcom fashion things go wrong when one of the girls Vince Vaghn meets falls for him while Owen Wilson finds a girl he loves but cannot have. The duo must then go on a trip with the girls and their bizarre family leading to comical results including being shot in the arse, insulted by a uncouth granny and almost raped by the disturbed gay brother of the girls.
It is a good film and I was glad I watched it but it certainly doesn’t live up to all the hype it has been receiving.
14th August 2005 - 20:03 BST
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Back from my holiday now, the journey down was far more pleasant than the one going up. For the Birmingham to Bristol train we decided to upgrade to First Class to guarantee seats, avoid screaming kids and generally have a more pleasant trip. We were told to board the train as normal and pay the ticket inspector the £15 upgrade fee when asked.
The train was so packed and busy that he simply didn’t have time to bother with billing us so we travelled First Class for the same price as Cattle Class. All in all a good holiday, I have uploaded a collection of holiday snaps here that you can view.
When I got home I was extremely annoyed to find out that all the TV Shows I had set to record on Sky+ had failed – the Leeds-Millwall match, Football League Review and five episodes of Dream Team. The error was solved after ringing the Sky Helpline but sadly all my beloved recordings had been lost! :o(
They say that holidays are supposed to relieve tiredness and help people recharge their batteries, I don’t know about that, I was very tired last night, also deprived of curry which I had not had all week. A delicious takeaway curry from the local Jaflong Indian Restaurant soon sorted that problem out!
Lastly onto football, bit of a disappointing game for Leeds yesterday, they only managed a 0-0 draw against Luton Town. Some fans are saying this is a good result, which in a way is true, Luton’s previous two games were both victories against Southampton and Crystal Palace. I would still have liked to of seen a bit more fight from the players who still seem to struggle to score.
The Leeds strikers couldn't hit this with a banjo
Some blame can be put onto manager Kevin Blackwell, many are calling for him to be sacked although I am prepared to give him a chance for now. The key to Leeds United’s season is stability, sacking the manager will make the team unstable, there is also no suitable replacement manager I can think of who is currently available.
Watched the football this afternoon as well, the Arsenal-Newcastle clash was interesting enough, it finished 2-0 to Arsenal, good result which will keep Chelsea and Manchester United on their toes. I also watched Chelsea take on newly promoted Wigan. Wigan were by far the better team which I think surprised everybody. They had many chances to win the game but failed to convert any of them. The game ended very disappointingly, (unless you’re a Chelsea fan) Chelsea scored in literally the dying seconds to earn a fully undeserved win.
Blog entries from 6th-13th August on the
Holiday Page
5th August 2005 - 19:12 BST
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It’s an exciting time for me now, firstly the football season starts tomorrow, with Leeds kicking off against Millwall on Sunday at midday (the games on TV so tune in and cheer on The Mighty Whites).
Secondly I am off on holiday tomorrow, I’m off to the Midlands for a week on a boating holiday along the canals. It should be very good and I have been looking forward to it for some time.
When most bloggers take a holiday their site is left static for a week or two, not Sparkster.net! I will be taking my laptop and digital camera and even though there is no telephone line I will be able to connect using Orange 3G.
Orange 3G will allow me to update my website, check e-mail, news and follow how Leeds United are doing, including streaming commentary for the Cardiff game on Tuesday.
I have setup a special page for my holiday here, all blog entries between Saturday 6th and 13th August 2005 will be here, along with any photos I take wile away.
2nd August 2005 - 22:18 BST
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While most football fans this evening were watching the Liverpool game I was watching the Champions League Qualifier between Celtic and Artmedia Bratislava on BBC Scotland. Celtic were thrashed 5-0 last week so had a massive task to overturn to continue in the competition.
The odds for Celtic to go through prior to the match were 33-1, many bookies were probably getting worried though, especially when the score reached 4-0 with some time to play.
Celtic played superb and ever so nearly did it. Sadly for the players, fans and Gordon Strachan (the Leeds United legend) even the four goal lead was not good enough.
It was still a great game of football, far better than the Liverpool game on the other side. Roll on The Championship!
July blog entries have been moved to the archive
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