12th March 2006 - 18:19 GMT
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Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me!
It’s my birthday today and I have reached the ripe old age of 24.
The birthday celebrations started last night, went out with a group of friends to Nandos in town (their chicken is just so tasty).
After that we all went back to a friend’s for a house party – very brave of him I thought. The party was still going strong when the taxi picked me up late on, I think it went on all night, hope the house is still standing!
Today was spent with family inside (it’s been snowing and is cold outside) while finding the time to watch a cracking football game between Arsenal and Liverpool.
Off tonight for a meal at Eastern Eye, a highly acclaimed curry house. I’m a big fan of Indian food and this place is meant to be one of the best places for it in the South West, never been before so am looking forward to it.
8th March 2006 - 22:04 GMT
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Congratulations to Arsenal for getting past Real Madrid and making it to the quarter finals of The Champions League. Commiserations though go to Liverpool who were dumped out of the competition tonight by Benfica, the same team who knocked out Man United in December. I wanted you to win Liverpool!
I was pleased to see Barca go through last night, not only are they my second team but I don’t like Chelsea very much! Predictably Chelsea manager José Mourinho was everything but graceful in defeat. According to José the best team lost. What is it with this moron? Why can’t he admit it that Chelsea were clearly outplayed and Barca deserve to be in the quarter finals?
The REAL special one!
It makes you wonder that if he spent less time moaning about the referee’s decisions in the first leg and more time on team building for the second leg, Chelsea may have done better last night – his mouth is a major floor in his managerial skill. Still there’s always next year José! Maybe you’ll need to spend another £300mill to beat Barca though!
The draw for the quarter and semi finals is on Friday, hopefully Barca will get drawn with Arsenal or AC Milan.
6th March 2006 - 21:12 GMT
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Leeds have been doing very well lately and Sheffield United, who they are chasing are slipping from the automatic promotion spot of 2nd place. There is a lot of excitement around Leeds fans hoping to get promoted automatically and avoiding the play offs. Can it be done, is it possible and should Leeds be more worried about little old Watford than local rivals Sheffield United?
I have got the old calculator out and looked at the results for Leeds, Sheffield United and Watford for 2006 to work out their current form and predict who will get that precious spot and promoted to the land of milk and honey – The Premiership.
2006 Stats
| Leeds United |
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Played: 10
Won: 6
Drew: 3
Lost: 1
Points: 21
Average Points Per Game: 2.1 |
| Sheffield United |
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Played: 10
Won: 4
Drew: 4
Lost: 2
Points: 16
Average Points Per Game: 1.6 |
| Watford |
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Played: 10
Won: 8
Drew: 1
Lost: 1
Points: 25
Average Points Per Game: 2.5 |
Games Remaining
Leeds: 12
Sheffield United: 11
Watford: 11
Total Points at the end of the season based upon current tally and 2006 form
Leeds: 94.2 (currently on 69)
Sheffield United: 92.6 (currently on 75)
Watford: 95.5 (currently on 68)
Therefore based on current form WATFORD will be going up! Still, these are only predictions and football is always full of surprises, anything could happen. The three teams are so close together points wise, Leeds are closer to Watford so fingers crossed The Mighty Whites can get 2nd spot!
4th March 2006 - 23:55 GMT
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I went to Ashton Gate this afternoon to watch Bristol City take on Nottingham Forest – strictly as a neutral!
I have only ever been to three football grounds before today, Elland Road (Leeds United), The Majeski Stadium (Reading) and St. Marys (Southampton). My first impression of Ashton Gate was “it’s a lot smaller than the others!”, still without being disrespectful it does belong to a lower league club.
The game was… well… OK, I have seen worse (Leeds-Rotherham springs to mind) although I have seen much better. There is obviously a golfing class between League One and The Championship (how arrogant!). While both sets of players did well and tried hard they seemed to lack confidence, ball control and most importantly creativity. There were so many chances for the City and Forest strikers to strike the ball into the back of the net but they just took too long and messed it up. I’m not a regular goer to Bristol City games, maybe I caught them on a bad day. If I did then apologies to any City or Forest fan if my comments offended you.
The game finished 1-1 with both goals coming in the second half. Overall an enjoyable time and an experience of lower league football, hopefully one I won’t have to experience with Leeds United unless it is in a cup game.
Leeds were also playing this afternoon, I kept informed via my mobile of the scores, The Mighty Whites were 1-0 up at half time, then 2-0 in the 2nd half, Palace got a consolation goal late on but the game finished 2-1 to Leeds. A fabulous result, especially as Sheffield United only drew yesterday against Crewe.
Sheffield United are currently in 2nd place in the league, the only other automatic promotion spot besides 1st which Reading seem to have in the bag. After today’s results Leeds sit 1 place behind Sheffield, 6 points adrift but with a game in hand. The wheels are coming off Sheffield United’s promotion wagon, if I was a Blades fan I would be shitting myself by now, watch out Neil Warnock, we’re coming to get you!
I was hoping to blog earlier today but I have been without internet since last night, there was a problem which meant I wasn’t able to connect to wire wireless network. Still, all is OK now.
2nd March 2006 - 22:19 GMT
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The BBC are reporting today that “Leeds are to honour Charles with bust”. This is of course the late, great, legend John Charles who Leeds United have decided to remember by placing a bust in the reception area of Elland Road. A nice touch.
It seems some Newcastle United fans have read the story and taken it upon themselves to provide their own living hero Alan Shearer with a bust of their own, in a way only Geordies and possibly some Americans can do… expect to see this on show at the weekend in the Newcastle-Bolton game.
Thank God the game is not being televised!
1st March 2006 - 21:46 GMT
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Well I’m in shock, just minutes after blogging about England losing 1-0 to Uruguay they have equalised. That’s not the thing that shocked me though, the reason I am in disbelief is that Peter Crouch scored the goal.
Could this lanky streak of piss really be England’s saviour? I tell you, I bet the Brazilian defenders are shitting themselves!
1st March 2006 - 21:32 GMT
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I crawled out of bed at 6.30am this morning to start my new job which started at 8am. Early start but one I can certainly get used to, being home in the afternoon was nice too.
The work was a lot more interesting than in my previous job, dealing with all manners of computer queries. Some being truly bizarre and some being just downright daft - users complaining about PCs not switching on and then turning out to be unplugged!
Enjoyable all the same, very tired tonight though, I think the early start and taking in so much information has taken its toll. Nothing a relaxing evening and good nights sleep cannot sort out though.
I am currently watching England play Uruguay in an international friendly. England are trailing 1-0 at the moment, they have been by far the better team but cannot seem to get the ball in the back of the damn net, the strikers cannot hit a barndoor with a banjo! The goal scored by Uruguay was a real cracker though, one of the best I have seen in a long time.
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